I Thought That We had Settled This Already

 Fifty-eight years ago in 1966, I was attending the eighth grade at Pierce Junior High School in Tampa, Florida. Tampa and Hillsborough County were in the middle of a population explosion. Our school was on double sessions and my half of the eighth grade attended school from about 11:00 AM to about 5:00 PM.

In the eighth grade, we all had to take American History. My American History class met in the cafeteria/auditorium and had about sixty to seventy students. Our teacher was Mr. Ben Matthews. He was a great teacher and since he had a crew cut, he had only a little more hair than I did then or now. But that's a memory that only a bald guy would have. 

Sometime in February, we were studying the pre-Civil War period in the United States. We began discussing the issue of "states' rights" in our study of the lead-up to the Civil War. One day Mr. Mathews announced that we would have a debate in class about the issue of states' rights. Mr. Mathews picked two teams of four students on each one. Incredibly enough, I was on the team advocating for states' rights.

We spent about a week getting ready for the debate. My part of the debate prep was all about the Tenth Amendment. I recall very little about the debate other than that I froze briefly when I walked to the microphone for the first time. That might have been the last time that happened. Wait! I do remember that we won the debate based on the class vote.

Years ago, my older son called one day and asked which amendment banned secession by the states. I pointed out that there was/is no constitutional barrier to states leaving. To amend the Constitution would require admitting that states had the right to secede. Despite the Civil War and Lincoln maintaining the Union at the point of a gun, I still believe that states have the right to leave. However, I also believe that the federal government is supreme in those issues where the Constitution provides that power to regulate.

The Federal government has the power to control immigration. Until the last few years, this has been widely accepted by all of the states. Now we are faced with local and state governments proclaiming that they are "sanctuary states" or "sanctuary cities". These are stupid ideas from stupid people.

Can states declare that they are "sanctuary states" that will not allow the collection of federal income taxes? Can those same "sanctuary states" prohibit federal laws from being enforced? 

The other night on the "news" I watched as four governors declared that they were "sanctuary states" and would not allow their law enforcement officials to assist federal agents in the pursuit of illegal immigrants. The irony that the governors of New York, California, New Jersey and Massachusetts are all claiming that they have the right to decide which federal laws apply to their states is just too funny for me. What has changed for these four states since the Civil War ended in 1865? They all believed in the supremacy of the federal government then. The difference is that now the federal government is doing something that affects their states. Illegal immigration may not be the exact same thing as slavery, but it is in the same ballpark.

By the way, where were these states when Eisenhower sent the 101st Airborne to Little Rock to see that the schools got integrated? Did any of them declare themselves to be "sanctuary states" for that time in history? Will these states soon declare that they are "sanctuary states" for human traffickers? They have pretty much already done that, but I digress. You just don't get to pick which federal laws that you agree can be enforced. 

New York state senator Liz Krueger has proposed that New York and the other liberal northeastern states secede from the United States and become a province of Canada. Just for the record Liz, you have my support. Maybe California, Oregon and Washington can secede and join Canada as well. That massive influx of citizens will just kick that free healthcare thing in Canada into the trash. You go girl!!!

It's time for the Yankees to experience a little bit of irony. If the states maintain that they are "sanctuaries" from federal law enforcement, Trump needs to send in the US Army and imprison their leaders. He needs to stop the flow of all federal funds to the "sanctuary states" and "sanctuary cities". If Lincoln could start a war, Trump has the right and the duty to arrest these governors of "sanctuary states". Can we jail that mouthy, obnoxious broad in Boston who is the mayor? Let's jail a bunch of mayors in these sanctuaries. 

Here's my lesson for those governors and mayors out in sanctuary land. If you seek to enforce the law, you must first obey the law.

Those who do not learn from history are condemned to repeat it. Just for the record, it has been 192 years since South Carolina passed a law declaring that Federal tariffs were null and void in South Carolina. Check a history book to see how that worked out for them.