As predicted, Congressional passage of President Obama’s sweeping health insurance “reform” bill has not ended the constitutional debate between federal and state authority. On the contrary, America seems poised to confront those issues directly, and with a force not seen in over a century.
As with the the first time around, those who shill for centralized power do so at the expense of liberty and government by consent. Observe this from the Talking Points Memo blog:
There’s a lot of nonsense out there about constitutional challenges to the Health Care Reform law on various ‘state sovereignty’ grounds. That’s nonsense. The Nullification Crisis and Civil War settled those issues.
Nonsense? First of all, learn history. The Nullification Crisis was a victory for those who opposed the unconstitutional assumption of “powers not delegated” by the federal government. It was also a perfect example of how meaningful checks on central power make a voluntary union stronger, not weaker.
Second of all, the War Between the States didn’t settle anything other than the fact that our union is no longer voluntary. Following such illogic, one wonders if the philosopher kings at TPM would have considered America’s colonial status to be permanently “settled” if Britain had won the Revolutionary War.
Probably. Statists are always grovelling toward the nearest locus of power. But they would be wrong.
Force of arms has never and can never decide questions of natural law. And there is no natural law more fundamental than the right of free people to be governed by their own consent.
Though our founders’ vision has been perverted over the years, the system of dual sovereignty they bequeathed us is clear: Sovereign states and sovereign people have the same power to judge the constitutionality of federal laws as the federal government now claims exclusively for itself.
Through nullification, interposition, and yes, even secession, if necessary.
So take note TPM and others of your ilk: If you want to surrender yourselves up to be ravished by the insatiable welfare/warfare State, go right ahead. Just don’t expect to take us with you.
We know what is at stake, we are more than ready for this battle, and we have not even begun to fight.