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South Carolina recently became the fifth State in which both houses of the legislature (by 4-to-1 margins) have passed sovereignty resolutions (in two other States, Alabama and Wyoming, the governors have also signed them). Let me quote a little of it to show you the thinking these people are now expressing—in a land, mind you, where nothing like this has been asserted in 180 years.
The South Carolina resolution begins, as lawmakers like to do, with a long series of “whereas”s containing a lot of windy talk, but after a little throat-clearing it declares:
Whereas, despite the clear limitations placed upon it by the United States Constitution, the federal government has steadily expanded its reach into the lives of our citizens and, in so doing, violates the very principles upon which this nation was founded; and…
Whereas the federal government has spent trillions of dollars of borrowed money to run deficits, to bail our financial institutions, to prop up auto makers, and to keep afloat other private enterprises that were mismanaged, took unnecessary risks, or were unresponsive to market demands, thus amassing a debt that will loom over and burden our country for generations to come; and
Whereas, the federal government habitually responds to its annual budget shortfalls by burdening the states with unfounded mandates, shifting costs for programs to the states, limiting state flexibility, and interfering with state revenue systems, undermining the constitutionally created balance between federal and state government, and…
Whereas, it is vitally important for the future of our nation that the states stand against the relentless expansion of the federal government and restore the proper balance to our federal system….
Well, you get the idea: they don’t like the empire and what it’s doing.
So what to do about it?
Be it resolved…that the state of South Carolina, by this resolution, claims for the State of South Carolina sovereignty under the Tenth Amendment over all powers not otherwise enumerated and granted to the federal government…
Be it further resolved that it is the policy of the State of South Carolina that the Attorney General will challenge the constitutionality of any provision enacted by the U.S. Congress that would violate any of the policies established by this resolution…
Be it further resolved that…South Carolina, by this resolution, claims for the citizens of South Carolina… freedom from all laws and mandates that violate the rights granted under the Second, Ninth, and Tenth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution;
Be it further resolved that this resolution serves as notice and demand to the federal government, as South Carolina’s agent, to cease and desist immediately all mandates that are beyond the scope of the federal government’s constitutionally delegated powers.
All in all, pretty strong stuff, particularly from people who have obviously been going along with federal laws and mandates they don’t like for quite a long time. It is not a secession resolution, true (and it should be noted that it is a resolution, not a law). But it is as clear an argument for nullification as has been heard since John C. Calhoun.
And on this tide of nullification it should be noted that five states so far have passed acts that can only be seen as assertions of nullification and interposition. South Dakota, Wyoming, Utah, Montana, and Tennessee have declared that any Federal laws affecting the manufacture and sale of firearms and ammunition within their state borders will not be binding, and anyone attempting to enforce them (read Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms agents) will be arrested by state and local law officials and held for trial. Talk about interposition.
If this is the kind of thing now engaging the legislatures of 70 per cent of the states of the union—and all the sovereignty resolutions are pretty much alike—it is a strong statement that many of America’s politicians at least realize that Washington has exerted unbearable power over the citizens and is planning more of the same. And that the only hope for people to resist the onslaught is sovereignty on the state level.
Yes, it’s true that the Federal government is not likely to pay any attention to the sovereignty resolutions, and so in that sense their chances of success are virtually nil. At least at this point. But that doesn’t mean they are much ado about nothing. They are about something, something real, something deep in the body politic at this time. It is the same sentiment that has energized the secession movement in the last six years: a revulsion with the empire and a determination to get out from under its corrupt and incompetent tyranny.
It is not beyond possibility that when these legislatures find the Federals are ignoring both the spirit and the letter of these resolutions, they will understand that, if such things are to have teeth, if they are actually to provide state sovereignty, then secession must logically follow.
One hundred and fifty years ago this December 20, the people of South Carolina, fed up with a long train of abuses just as the current collection of “whereas”s delineates, voted “to dissolve the Union between the State of South Carolina and other States united with her under the compact entitled ‘The Constitution of the United States of America.’” If those legislators are serious about what they are saying, they might start thinking of doing the same thing again.
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Kirkpatrick Sale, noted commentator and author of a dozen books, is Director of the Middlebury Institute and a South Carolina Delegate to the Southern National Congress. A version of this article first appeared in the spring edition of Vermont Commons.
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