No to nullification

by Danny Tomlinson, Hamilton

Alan Lackey has summarized his policy in one word, “nullification.” While we might wish for more depth in a candidate, it does make it easier to know how to think about him.

Nullification is a species of civil disobedience, a political stratagem rationalized from the Tenth Amendment, even though it never uses the word. Nullification is the politics of ‘Heads I win; tails you lose.’ If Lackey gains his case in Congress and the Courts, then (Heads I win) he puts on his “strong constitutionalist” suit and proclaims this is the law and it must be followed. But if Lackey loses his case, then (Tails you lose) he puts on his “nullification” suit and proclaims this law is invalid and it is our duty to resist. Thus, nullification amounts to the Lackeys of the world functioning as self-appointed, one-person Supreme Courts, whose personal interpretation of the Constitution must be followed or there will be trouble. Nullification is anarchy, and the end of constitutional government.

It behooves us soberly to think through the ramifications of nullification theory. Nullification has reared its ugly head before now, and has shown that it fosters secession and civil war. In the 19th century, South Carolina, “too small for a republic and too large for an insane asylum” in the words of a man of the time, pushed nullification in the 1830s and secession in the 1860s, and helped plunge this land into the bloodiest war in our history. Let’s not make Montana the South Carolina of the 21st century.

But think further with me along this track. Think about the reality of a divided America in this troubled world. We may already be reaping a kind of first fruits in Ukraine, with Putin’s calculated decision to defy us. Divide our nation in two, if you can imagine it, and think about the future of political hotspots throughout the world, released from the restraint of a powerful United States. Let America become two small, squabbling nations, and watch the world fall apart.

Such a future is too horrific to contemplate, and we can put it away right now by stamping out the lawlessness and tendency toward secession nested in the bogus theory of nullification. We can do this by defeating candidates like Alan Lackey, and others of his stripe when their time for reelection comes. Please cast your vote for Wayne Rusk in HD 88.