Virginia Attorney General: Interposition Has a Bad History

Virginia attorney general Ken Cuccinelli is urging Tea Partiers not to support the idea of state interposition. According to a report, “Attorney Gen. Cuccinelli, in private consultations with the Roanoke group, agreed, noting how Southern states had unsuccessfully invoked the doctrine in the 1960s to resist federal civil-rights legislation. ‘Interposition had a place in history, I told them, and it is not an exalted one,’ Mr. Cuccinelli said.”

That is most unfortunate. I have explained why the civil-rights issue as an argument against nullification today is apples and oranges; this discussion comes in a speech of mine that will be repeated on C-SPAN2 this Sunday at 3:30pm ET. Beyond that, what a shame Cuccinelli does not know the real history of the doctrine, and what it was used for. From what I can see, every single time the Principles of ’98 were invoked in antebellum America they sought to expand human freedom. Why is that not “exalted”? Wisconsin objected to unconstitutional aspects of the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, quoting Jefferson’s Resolutions of 1798 verbatim. Not exalted? Why buy into the regime’s idea that if we peons are allowed to dissent from federal policy, we’ll surely use this power for evil? Why buy into the idea that we need federal government supervision for our own good?

This Sunday in Orlando those of us who beg to differ will be having a pretty big event in support of nullification; former New Mexico governor Gary Johnson and I are among the speakers. By an interesting coincidence, I recently did a radio interview (to air next month) on nullification with Pat Williams, senior VP of the Orlando Magic.

cross-posted from he LewRockwell.com blog

EDITOR’S NOTE: Tom Woods will be the keynote speaker at Nullify Now! in Orlando on 10-10-10. Click here to get tickets – http://www.nullifynow.com/orlando/ – or call 888-71-TICKETS

Tags: Interposition, Ken Cuccinelli