Nullification in 2011!
By Alan Caruba
The great issue of our times is the same great issue of the 1830s. The question is whether Congress can pass legislation or the President issue executive orders that are not authorized by or consistent with the Constitution?
The federal government is a republic composed of separate and sovereign republics.
What recourse do the States have individually and in combination when the central government acts in a fashion that is contrary to the limits and enumerated powers of the Constitution?
The answer, other than an appeal to the courts, is nullification. This term is defined as the assertion that States can and should refuse to enforce unconstitutional federal laws.
This is no trifling matter.
In the past two years since the advent of the Obama administration, the federal government has seized control of one sixth of the nation’s economy, asserting control over the provision of healthcare.
It seized control of General Motors and Chrysler auto manufacturers, arbitrarily casting aside the rightful expectations of their bondholders and other creditors.
It has imposed absurd and invasive demands on air travelers.
It is considering a United Nations treaty that would render the Second Amendment null and void.
It has sued Arizona for enacting an immigration law that mirrors its own.
It is attempting through the FCC to assert control over the Internet.
In the 1860s the issue of state’s rights led to the Civil War.
One hundred and fifty years ago, on December 22, 1860, the State of South Carolina declared its independence and seceded from the Union. It did not arrive at this decision overnight. In fact, on December 10, 1832, President Andrew Jackson issued a proclamation to South Carolina disputing its right to nullify a federal law.
A South Carolina convention had declared that the tariff acts of 1828 and 1832 “are unauthorized by the Constitution of the United States and violate the true meaning and intent thereof and are null, void, and no law, nor binding upon this State.”
Subsequent to Jackson’s proclamation, Congress passed the Force Act that authorized the use of military force against any State that resisted the tariff acts. A compromise engineered by Henry Clay resulted in the tariff of 1833, designed to reduce southern objections. South Carolina ended its nullification effort, but by 1861 it would no longer bend to the mandates of the federal government.
Contrary to some historical reinterpretation, the Civil War was all about State’s rights. Though President Lincoln opposed slavery, he did not introduce the issue into the conflict until after the awful slaughter on the battlefields that led to the Emancipation Proclamation. It came three years after the war had begun and was intended to introduce a moral dimension to the conflict. Slaves, however, were only freed in the Confederate southern States.
There are many issues worthy of nullification these days.
At the top of the current list is Obamacare and the fact that some twenty States have filed suit against its enforcement clearly demonstrates (1) an intense rejection of it and (2) the willingness of States to use the judicial system to seek relief.
Beyond that, we have entire federal agencies that have no legitimate basis in the Constitution.
The Department of Education should be abolished. The Constitution makes no mention of education as a federal concern. It was and should be up to the States and local communities to oversee general education. Part of the controversy raging these days concerns teacher’s union contracts that are contributing to the bankruptcy of many States.
The Department of Energy, created by executive order, should be abolished. States should have the right to determine how their natural resources should be either protected or utilized. Requiring states to use so-called alternative (wind and solar) energy is seriously wrong.
Likewise, the Environmental Protection Agency, also created by executive order, has so exceeded its original mandate that it has become a lethal threat to the economy and the welfare of all Americans.
Nullification should be utilized to rid us of these and other federal entities that overstep their mission, threatening the Bill of Rights and other constitutional limitations and freedoms.
To learn more about the nullification movement, visit the Nullify Now website and the website of the Tenth Amendment Foundation.
This nation has been heading toward nullification since the 1930s when many of the Constitution’s restrictions of federal power were cast aside. This has brought the nation to the brink of financial collapse. To save it, nullification may be required.
Editor’s note: To learn more about this topic, Tom Woods has written “Nullification: How to Resist Federal Tyranny in the 2lst Century.”
© Alan Caruba, 2010
Views: 3
Tags: Dept-Education, Dept-Energy, EPA, FCC, Nullification, States-Rights, US-Congress, US-Constitution
Comment
-
Comment by George Graham on January 2, 2011 at 6:24pm -
Comment by Lock Piatt on December 31, 2010 at 10:49am
- "Ron, we can not divide a gold coin down to a small enough size to use it as currency and silver is close to the same problem. 1/1300 of a troy ounce is $1 and would be very very very small."
We won't necessarily have to physically have gold and silver coin. AFTER we get rid of the unconstitutional Federal Reserve and place the U.S. Treasury back in control of our currency, it would be constitutionally required that no paper money can be issued unless backed by gold and silver reserves to be kept in the vaults of the U.S. Treasury. Then the paper money is fine. Our money used to say something to the effect that "this note is redeemable in silver to the bearer on demand."
Under the Federal Reserve system, all they must do to "create" money is turn on the printing presses. Our paper Federal Reserve Notes are intrinsically worthless. We must get back on either the gold or silver standard, end fractional banking and prosecute the foreign and domestic banks that are part of the Fed.
-
Comment by SHARRON AMSTER on January 2, 2011 at 8:36am -
UNITED WE STAND! This is the year it will be true. We must stand together and oust this group of traders they are not Americans. They never liked this country. We looked the other way wile they ran ramped in the country killing and bombing and said they are just unhappy at home collage work what ever. Now it is time they get the H out of our country and let us get back to working to put things together again. It will not be the same but it can be better. GOD BLESS
-
Comment by Joseph DeLuna on December 31, 2010 at 2:47pm -
Either Way "We The People" Must Get This Country Back!
-
Comment by David J Edwards on December 31, 2010 at 1:21am -
Dr. Smith,
As you may be aware, personal liberty laws, the extension of Habeas corpus, and Jury Nullification were used together as tools for breaking the Fugitive Slave Laws (to 1864) and then Prohibition (1920 to 1933). Jury Nullification under-cut Laws of the Land which were deemed unfit to be Laws by the citizenry. To that end, Jury Nullification becomes a strategic application of 'guerrilla democracy' (lower case "d"). It is most effective when supported by an unconventional force of irregulars working underground with a well developed network of communication and Intelligence.
It serves 3 purposes:
1) Erosion of the popular power base of the opposition
2) Erosion of the effectiveness of the Force used by the opposition to coerce compliance
3) Popularizes the cause of Liberty against the corrupt usurpers (wins the Hearts and Minds of the electorate).
It is not neat, reverent, conventional, or polite... nor should it be. Jury Nullification at its best makes the opposition work against itself by performing oppressive acts which de-legitimize the usurpers, trips them up, and makes them attract ridicule and contempt.
If you find this sounds like Saul Alinsky, you are correct. His methods have been eroding America for over 50 years. It is high time they served to repair America. Alinsky won't mind. He died in 1972.
-
Comment by Karl Koenigs on December 30, 2010 at 9:29pm
-
See: The End of Liberty
-
Comment by Charles P. Smith MD on December 30, 2010 at 9:22pm -
As Alan Caruba explained and others have stated plainly, officers of all of the 50 states took an oath to protect and defend the Constitution of the U.S. Accordingly, they must hold Congress, the Supreme Court or any Federal judges to account by stopping any legislation that is plainly unconstitutional...that is not allowed to be law. Call it so and refuse to allow the citizens of your state to be held to any legislation that is not law. Nullification. Many people are responsible to behave this way. That all of them have not done so is not to say that they won't or can't or can't be urged, convinced, and taught to do their duty. That duty is still the law.
I don't see much similarity to so-called jury nullification. Perhaps it is enough to use it as example for state oficers to get up their gumption.
-
Comment by Mike Young on December 30, 2010 at 5:31pm
-
So right you are Alan, The states do have the utmost authority to Nullify any and all unconstitutional Bills, Agencies, or Treaties with other nations or with a group of nations called the united Nations, and the state legislatures have the duty to do this also because they took an oath to protect and defend the Constitution of the united states against all enemies both foreign or domestic. They did not take an oath to defend the President or his policies.
-
Comment by Peter Dominguez on December 30, 2010 at 4:35pm
-
To Craig and Randy: Hear, hear. Both of you are right on. I am very frustrated with most Americans regardless of their station. They are so busy watching sports that all their energy in wasted and while this is going on the enemy from without and within is eating us up. Thanks and keep up the good attitude. Happy New Year.
-
Comment by Karl Koenigs on December 30, 2010 at 3:45pm
-
Comment by David J Edwards on December 30, 2010 at 3:04pm
-
Joseph,
While I agree that a fine way to weaken the beast is to starve it (de-fund it), but that must not be our entire strategy. Eventually, after we make some gains, our side will wish to rest. As soon as we take a nap, the Left-Beast will return... angry and in Full Force with the intention of destroying us all and forever.
The beast must be utterly over-whelmed by everyone from Lilliputians to giants... attacked from within as well as from all sides plus from overhead and underneath. It must be driven into a deadly mire... a swamp from which it cannot escape… a muck hole which must become its grave.
No. We do not want any good allies going to prison at all. But fighting a single-line frontal assault war against this foe is futile. A blend of non-stop, creative Asymmetric Warfare strategies can beat the Marxist Left for many years... IF we are smart enough to pull it off.
But do not be deluded. No matter how much we gain in this war, the Beast-Left will be be back someday. ideas do not die. It has laid idea eggs all over the world. If the current beast dies, one day its eggs will hatch out and this war will begin again.
© 2013 Created by Judson Phillips.
You need to be a member of Tea Party Nation to add comments!
Join Tea Party Nation