Picture the scene.

It’s October 1787 and three men take on the herculean task of getting the New York farmers on board with the Constitution before the ratification debates get started. But these guys are up for the task. I mean, we’re talking about James Madison, John Jay and Alexander Hamilton for goodness sake.

What’s really hard to imagine, in light of our world today, is that three different New York newspapers are anticipating the writings. They can’t wait to publish them!!!

Fast-forward to 2013. Fox News finally puts out a story about “nullification.”  But the bastion of “conservative” news is missing the mark. The Tenth Amendment Center has been a the forefront of liberty through nullification for over seven years now. Apparently, Fox News can’t be bothered with liberty.

Too radical?

So, with its hand forced by coverage of the upcoming attempt to override Missouri Governor Jay Nixon’s veto of a Second Amendment Preservation Act that would nullify virtually every unconstitutional federal act infringing on the right to keep and bear arms, Fox News jumps in with a tepid tome cobbling together information from AP reports. The article emphasizes the trivial, pretends that the bill is identical to firearms freedom acts (not the same thing) and mischaracterizes the Missouri legislation as purely dealing with intrastate commerce.

Now, going back in time again, imagine if the editors of New York papers didn’t bother to consider the writings of Madison, Hamilton and Jay until the very end of the ratifying process, and then didn’t bother to talk to those three men.

That’s pretty much what Fox News pulled off.

It ran a story about nullification and didn’t bother to contact the Tenth Amendment Center, the organization that leads the nullification movement. Apparently, they never even did a Google search to find out what the bill actually entails. (It’s HERE if anybody from Fox happens to read this.) By doing a little homework, the folks at Fox would have realized the AP reports they cited misrepresented the bill. They could have reported the very valid arguments for nullification. And they could have informed their readers about another way to advance the “conservative” agenda – smaller, less intrusive government.

But they didn’t bother.

I suppose next Fox will run a story on football and not consult with the NFL.

Francisco Rodriguez

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