Which has led us more than once to contemplate what would happen if Washington enacted a law or the President executed an executive order and the rest of the country simply ignored it? Would the center hold or would we be looking at serious fissures within the country?
For a few days lets review where the rest of the country is telling Obama and the Washington political class to stop their power grab and overreaching into our lives:
1) The Daily Caller reported back in October that 26 states are suing the Federal government because of the EPA’s attempt to overstep its authority and institute it’s so-call “Clean Power Plan,” a plan that will substantially increase the cost of electricity in this country for consumers and businesses.
The plan forces states to move away from coal as an energy source for creating electricity under the somewhat shaky premise that manmade climate change is going to be the death of all of us. For those readers who still think that man made global warming and climate change are a reality, I suggest you enter the term, “I am a global warming doubter” in the search box above to see hundreds of science-based sources and experts who would dispute the theory that man made activities are dramatically screwing up the planet.
The states are arguing that the plan is a Federal government takeover of state energy policy because it forces a shift away from coal regardless of what a state, its government and its citizens want to do. The argument also includes the position that the EPA’s authority to do this is not allowed under the Clean Air Act and the legislation that created the EPA.
If allowed to take place, many states will see electricity rates skyrocket and a multitude of coal mining jobs and coal mines be shut down, devastating many communities and whole states in the coal belt. This will stunt economic growth and put the U.S. at a competitive disadvantage in the world economy since other economic giants such as China, India, and others have no intention of curtailing their use of coal or any other energy source that fuels their economic growth.
In fact, we have previously repoted that these other countries are planning to build and open up at least 2,400 new coal burning plants in the near future. Just these new plants will overwhelm the handful of coal plants in this country that Obama wants to shut down from an environmental benefit perspective.
The good news is that the Supreme Court recently ruled in favor of the states' pushback. The Court said that the plan cannot be implemented until all law suits against it can be heard and litigated. A victory for freedom.
All for a climate theory that gets less and less credible everyday. Which raises an interesting question: what if the Obama administration decides to enforce this plan and 26 states ignore the directive? Will the center hold?
2) Probably no state has stood up in opposition to the Federal government and the Obama administration more than the state of Texas. Starting with former governor Rick Perry and his strong stand against the weak implementation of border patrol and security and gun control to the current governor, Texas has led the charge to push back the ever growing reach of the Federal government.
Current Texas governor, Greg Abbott, is now opposing Obama administration policies when it comes to so-called sanctuary cities. Sanctuary city local governments have decided that they can ignore Federal laws and regulations when it comes to apprehending and deporting illegal immigrants, giving them protection and sheltering them from the Federal government. The Obama administration has allowed this law breaking to go on under it's watch, probably actually encouraging it behind the scenes.
Well, apparently Abbott is not going to have any of it, recently claiming that sanctuary cities will "no longer be tolerated in Texas.” Abbott sent a letter to a Texas sheriff after the sheriff publicly said that he would decide on a case-by-case basis whether or not to abide by the law and turn over illegal immigrants to the Feds. Abbott sent a letter strongly objecting to this abuse of current law: “'Sanctuary City’ policies like those promoted by your recent decision to implement your own case-by-case immigrant detention plan will no longer be tolerated in Texas,. Your decision to not fully honor U.S. Immigration & Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) requests to detain criminal immigrants poses a serious danger to Texans. These detainers provide ICE with the critical notice and time it needs to take incarcerated immigrants into federal custody.”
“Your refusal to fully participate in a federal law enforcement program intended to keep dangerous criminals off the streets leaves the State no choice but to take whatever actions are necessary to protect our fellow Texans. Now more than ever, it is essential that state, federal, and local law enforcement work collaboratively to protect our fellow Texans and to ensure that our laws are upheld, not disregarded.”
The governor laid out actions he and the state of Texas could take in response to the renegade actions of this sheriff:
- Passing laws that prohibit any policy or action that promotes sanctuary to people in this state illegally.
- Enacting laws that make it illegal for a Sheriff’s Department to not honor a federal immigration detainer request.
- Evaluating the extent to which local taxpayers should foot the bill for local decisions that increase costs for Texas’ health and education systems.
- Amending the Tort Claims Act to ensure counties are fully financially responsible for the actions of any illegal immigrants who are released because the county’s Sheriff failed to honor an ICE detainer request.
It would be interesting to see what a court would decide when a state official is trying to get a Federal law enforced and the Federal government tries to have a state official not enforce the Federal law. Interesting times when roles are reversed like this. We have obviously fallen down the rabbit hole when this is our reality in this country.
3) While Texas has been the biggest opposition to an increasingly large, inept, and dangerous Federal government, the state of Arizona is not far behind. The state government house of representatives passed a piece of legislation that will be taken up by the state senate in January, 20126, that if passed and signed by the governor would put Arizona in the forefront of ignoring potential edicts and orders from Washington.
Specifically, the proposed law calls for:
“1. Prohibits this state or any of its political subdivisions from using any personnel or financial resources to enforce, administer or cooperate with an executive order issued by the President of the U.S. that has not been affirmed by a vote of Congress and signed into law as prescribed by the U.S. Constitution.
2. Prohibits this state or any of its political subdivisions from using any personnel or financial resources to enforce, administer or cooperate with a policy directive issued by the U.S. DOJ to law enforcement agencies in this state that has not been affirmed by a vote of Congress and signed into law as prescribed by the U.S. Constitution.”
In other words, if a Washington action does not conform to the spirit and letter of the Constitution, than Arizona is going to do its very best not to support or conform to that action. Wow, that’s a big you know what to Washington and the executive order-mad Obama administration. Govern the right way, according to the Constitution, or get out of our state. Makes you wonder what the Feds will do if Arizona eventually passes this legislation and actually ignores and Obama or other Washington edict or order. Will the center hold?
Again, interesting times we live in. A state insisting the Constitution be followed or it will ignore Washington’s intentions, a state trying to get the Federal government to enforce Federal laws on immigration that the Federal government refuses to enforce, and 26 states basically telling the Feds to pound sand on what they consider an illegal power grab by the EPA.
Never have so many pushed back so hard on Washington which raises the scenario: what happens when Washington issues an edict and the rest of the country ignores it and yawns in its face?
Our book, "Love My Country, Loathe My Government - Fifty First Steps To Restoring Our Freedom And Destroying The American Political Class" is now available at:
www.loathemygovernment.com
It is also available online at Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Please pass our message of freedom onward. Let your friends and family know about our websites and blogs, ask your library to carry the book, and respect freedom for both yourselves and others everyday.
Please visit the following sites for freedom:
Term Limits Now: http://www.howmuchworsecoulditget.com
http://www.reason.com
http://www.cato.org
http://www.bankruptingamerica.org
http://www.conventionofstates.com
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08j0sYUOb5w
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