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Title: Idaho GOP gets ready to nullify health care reform
Source:
Yahoo
URL Source: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110121 ... s/us_health_care_nullification
Published: Jan 21, 2011
Author: JOHN MILLER
Post Date: 2011-01-21 08:46:14 by jwpegler
Keywords: None
Views: 3773
Comments: 12
After leading the nation last year in passing a law to sue the federal government over the health care overhaul, Idaho's Republican-dominated Legislature now plans to use an obscure 18th century doctrine to declare President Barack Obama's signature bill null and void. Lawmakers in six other states — Maine, Montana, Oregon, Nebraska, Texas and Wyoming — are also mulling "nullification" bills, which contend states, not the U.S. Supreme Court, are the ultimate arbiter of when Congress and the president run amok. It's a concept that's won favor among many tea party adherents who believe Washington, D.C., is out of control. Though a 1958 U.S. Supreme Court decision reaffirmed that federal laws "shall be the supreme law of the land," Gov. C.L. "Butch" Otter is promoting the idea, too. In his January 10 State of the State speech, he told Idaho residents "we are actively exploring all our options — including nullification." Sen. Monty Pearce, an Idaho GOP lawmaker who plans to introduce a nullification bill early next week, wanted to be the first one to give Otter a recently published book on the subject, "Nullification: How to Resist Federal Tyranny in the 21st Century." But Otter beat him to the punch. "I took that copy and tried to give it to the governor," he said, pointing to a copy on his desk. "He already had a copy." Sick of just passing largely symbolic resolutions decrying federal encroachment on states' rights, proponents like Pearce say their bills will ratchet up the pressure on the feds: This isn't just some piece of paper to wave about; if it passes — and there's plenty in Idaho to suggest it will — this would become the law of the state, Pearce says. It's been tried before, a long time ago. Back in 1799, Thomas Jefferson wrote in his "Kentucky Resolution," a response to federal laws passed amid an undeclared naval war against France, that "nullification, by those sovereignties, of all unauthorized acts... is the rightful remedy." Three decades later, South Carolina Sen. John Calhoun pushed nullification of federal tariffs that many in the South deemed discriminatory toward agricultural slave states. President Andrew Jackson readied the military, before a compromise defused the situation. In 1854, Wisconsin also sought to nullify the federal Fugitive Slave Act that forced non-slave states to return escapees. And more recently, Arkansas defied the federal government's order to desegregate public schools after the landmark 1954 Brown v. Board of Education decision. In a unanimous 1958 ruling rejecting Arkansas' position, the High Court wrote that states were bound by the Constitution's Article VI mandating U.S. laws, when vetted by justices, "shall be the supreme law of the land." David Gray Adler, who directs the University of Idaho's McClure Center for Public Policy Research, said nullification proponents ignore the fact that one Supreme Court decision after another has gone against them. What they seem to be advocating for, he said, is a return to the state sovereignty that existed under the Articles of Confederation — exactly what the Constitution's framers in 1789 sought to replace because it had failed. "The premise of their position and the reasoning behind it are severely flawed and have no support in our Constitutional architecture," he said. After passing its "Health Care Freedom Act" last year, Idaho is already among 27 states now suing the federal government over the constitutionality of what health care overhaul foes deride as "Obamacare." Supreme Court justices haven't yet weighed in on questions like whether residents can be compelled to buy health insurance. But Thomas E. Woods, Jr., author of the 2010 book "Nullification" that Otter and Pearce have in their Idaho Capitol offices, argues states have the final say on the gravest issues, like when the government forces citizens to spend their hard-earned money. If the U.S. president, Congress, and the Supreme Court get it wrong, Woods said, then Jefferson had it right back in 1799 when he wrote that states, as creators of the federal government, "being sovereign and independent, have the unquestionable right to judge of its infraction." "What do we do when we don't get proper relief in the court?" Woods told The Associated Press from his home in Auburn, Ala. "We can't just throw up our hands and say, 'We tried.' The creators had to have some way of not having that system destroyed." For Idaho's Pearce, Obama and the Democratic-led Congress are destroying the American system. "There are now 27 states that are in on the lawsuit against Obamacare," Pearce said. "What if those 27 states do the same thing we do with nullification? It's a killer."
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#1. To: All (#0)
(Edited)
Nullification is definitely the answer to the criminal government in D.C. 5 states have already nullified federal gun laws in situations where guns are manufacturered and sold within state borders. The legalization of medical marijuana over the federal government's bitter objections is a defacto nullification of some federal drug laws. Obamacare is next. It's great to see that after 110 years of creeping federal power, the state are finally waking up and reasserting their rights.
Which state will secede first. 8D
The Proletariate needs to understand that they are too stupid to take care of themselves. We must do it for them.
Probably none of them, but the state that has the most active secessionist movement in the U.S. is leftist Vermont. I could also image a scenario where British Columbia succeeds from Canada. They were bribed into joining Canada by the railroads, and they've never been very happy about it. They are especially pissed about all of the attention, special deals, and tax money that Quebec receives to hold off the separatists there. If B.C. leaves Canada, there are people in Washington and Oregon who will clamor to join them. I don't think it would go anywhere, but there would be a push. Note that Vermont, Washington and Oregon are all considered "blue states", although Washington is actually more 'libertarian" (anti-tax, liberal on social issues).
So which will be the first state to declare bankruptcy then?
Well, the state with the most structural problems and the most hidebound government bureaucrats' union is California. So we'll see if Jerry Brown can pull off a miracle. If not then, the state could be in receivership before the 2012 election.
California has the Sixth Largest 'hidebound' economy in the world. It pulls out and the USA is over. Others will pull out long before. Next?
I didn't say they were leaving. You asked which state will declare bankruptcy first. They are on the top of the list.
Which state will secede first. 8D mcgowanjm I didn't say they were leaving. You asked which state will declare bankruptcy first. They are on the top of the list. #5. To: jwpegler (#4) Probably none of them, but the state that has the most active secessionist movement in the U.S. is leftist Vermont. So which will be the first state to declare bankruptcy then? mcgowanjm posted on 2011-01-21 9:43:12 ET That's the whole point. Once BK is declared by a state, it's then leaving, or wait for the collapse, then leaving.
Secession and bankruptcy have nothing to do with each other.
We must do it for them. I remember that from Remedial Re-education 001, it's in Chapter One.
Oh yes they do. a BK State is no different from an Insolvent one. Both kinds are defaulting on a debt. A debt to who? Who could be more powerful than the state?
Jefferson had it right back in 1799 when he wrote that states, as creators of the federal government, "being sovereign and independent, have the unquestionable right to judge of its infraction."
"It's very important to remember the law is not simply what powerful people would want others to believe it is." -- Julian Assange
#2. To: jwpegler (#0)
#3. To: jwpegler (#0)
#4. To: mcgowanjm (#2)
"It's very important to remember the law is not simply what powerful people would want others to believe it is." -- Julian Assange
#5. To: jwpegler (#4)
Probably none of them, but the state that has the most active secessionist movement in the U.S. is leftist Vermont.
#6. To: mcgowanjm (#5)
(Edited)
"It's very important to remember the law is not simply what powerful people would want others to believe it is." -- Julian Assange
#7. To: jwpegler (#6)
Well, the state with the most structural problems and the most hidebound government bureaucrats' union is California. So we'll see if Jerry Brown can pull off a miracle. If not then, the state could be in receivership before the 2012 election.
#8. To: mcgowanjm (#7)
"It's very important to remember the law is not simply what powerful people would want others to believe it is." -- Julian Assange
#9. To: jwpegler (#8)
(Edited)
#2. To: jwpegler (#0)
#10. To: mcgowanjm (#9)
That's the whole point. Once BK is declared by a state, it's then leaving, or wait for the collapse, then leaving.
"It's very important to remember the law is not simply what powerful people would want others to believe it is." -- Julian Assange
#11. To: Karl Marx (#3)
The Proletariate needs to understand that they are too stupid to take care of themselves.
#12. To: jwpegler (#10)
Secession and bankruptcy have nothing to do with each other.
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