Hooray for Arizona #10 (Arizona Reacts to Federal Abuses)

This article appeared in Oregon's Statesman's Journal, and in the Rebellion blog.

Arizona reacts to a long train of Federal abuses




This opinion piece from Oregon's Statesman Journal is typical of the ruling elite's attitude toward the American people, and oh-so-typical in exposing its profound ignorance of the Constitution and history.



Claiming that "Arizona's immigration witch hunt challenges federal authority," the anonymous editorial writer starts the piece with this headache-inducing display of government-supremacist arrogance:





Though it has been settled law since the Civil War ended that a state cannot secede from the union, Arizona's extreme action suggests it imagines it can.



Given this existential loophole, Gov. Jan Brewer has signed a bill that unilaterally gives her state the power to enforce federal immigration law ...



Once again, we're supposed to believe that Constitutional issues are settled by bayonets and cannons. In fact, the Civil War only proved that an industrialized nation was able to defeat an agrarian nation in a grinding, four-year war.



One thing the writer does get right, however, is the significance of Arizona's border security legislation. The Federal government has utterly failed in its duty to enforce existing law. No one can deny that. Since the authority to enforce the border is one of many powers delegated to the Federal government, DC's failure to fulfill its duty is ample reason for Arizona to resume that power. To the writer, however, Arizona is guilty of trying "to usurp the federal government's authority to legislate immigration laws." The bias toward big government blinds its apologists to the truth of the matter.



However, all the defenders of the central government care about is propping up DC's hegemony. The writer concludes by suggesting how the Obama administration can sabotage Arizona's border security efforts:





But it will be left to the federal government to counter Arizona's immigration witch hunt. The Obama administration can do this by refusing to take custody of any non-violent illegal immigrants whom local police charge with "misdemeanor trespassing" - the immigration offense the new law creates.



While such a stance isn't likely to produce a surrender like the one at Appomattox Court House that ended the Civil War, it could force Arizona's governor and lawmakers to end their legislative insurrection.



Again, this op-ed does indeed correctly outline the central issue: This is the first real battle between the people of the States and the hangers-on of the decaying central government. What happens in Arizona will affect all of us.



posted by Old Rebel @ Tuesday, April 27, 2010 4 Comments