The platform for a local candidate for the state legislature is based on lower taxes, less government, and more freedom. I find that almost mindless, but it has attracted the tea party gang. Her Facebook page includes comments from supporters urging a state statute to nullify ‘unconstitutional’ federal legislation, which is a strongly held sentiment I have often read and heard these days.
Frequent readers of these occasional articles already know that nullification is not a new idea. South Carolina passed an ordinance of nullification in 1832 in an attempt to overturn tariffs. Nullification arguments were raised over the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850. The Civil War itself was in part a struggle over nullification. The issue was settled at the cost of 620,000 dead, and I have no idea how many non-combatants were killed, or how many lived the balance of their lives wounded in body, mind and spirit.
At what point and at what cost will people understand that the issue is resolved? We have serious matters to address. It’s time to stop the silliness that, but for our constitution and laws, could become a violent tit-for-tat killing field such as witnessed in other parts of the world, and that sometimes has broken out in our own land.