The space between secession and submission: Nullification may be the way to go

I'm a sportswriter by trade and before every event people stand up, turn towards the U.S. flag and sing the "Star-Spangled Banner."

Now imagine them going to a basketball game and after standing up to sing the national anthem, they're were given an announcement saying they were no longer U.S. citizens because their state had seceded from the union.
Huh?

I'm sure that's what their reaction would be, along with bewilderment, disbelief, and anguish.

You mean we're no longer Americans? What gives? Who decided that?

It's something secession advocates should think about as try to make their dreams come true. Really, there are only a few states and regions in the U.S. where a sustained education effort could break the bonds between the state and the union and those are the former nations of Vermont, Texas, California and the Southern Confederacy

But for every where else there is a way, or perhaps best, a place in between secession and submission that states and localities could partake in that could keep country together without the need of a police state.

Read carefully this new resolution drawn up by the Second Vermont Republic, which was the topic of discussion at a weekend convention in Burlington held by SVR.


"Recent actions by the U.S. government including the prosecution of illegal wars, the Patriot Act, the illegal rendition of terrorist suspects, prisoner abuse and torture, citizen surveillance, the suppression of civil liberties, the suspension of habeas corpus, a foreign policy based on full spectrum dominance and imperial overstretch, and a culture of deceit have all given rise to legitimate concern that under circumstances of its own choosing, our government might not rule out (1) the suspension of the U.S. Constitution or Bill of Rights, (2) the declaration of martial law, (3) the militarization of civilian police functions, (4) the suspension of free elections, (5) the usurpation of individual property rights, or (6) the negation of the Second Amendment right to bear arms.

"In light of these troubling developments, the State of Vermont hereby reaffirms (1) its right of sovereignty, (2) its right to nullify acts of the central government deemed to be unconstitutional, (3) its right to secede from the Union, and (4) its right to call a statewide Convention of the People to decide whether or not it remains in the Union."


Nullification was a doctrine supposedly left on the trash heap of the old pre-War Between the States America. After all, what kind of state simply refuses Washington's marching orders? And yet, such things happened on several occasions in early U.S. history. The Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions were essentially declarations of nullification on the clearly unconstitutional Alien and Sedition Acts. It was this example that led John C. Calhoun to spell out the theory of nullification in the Fort Hill Address and also led to South Carolina to defy Andrew Jackson and a ruinous tariff in1831. And those who would think nullification as a "southern" theory, it should be pointed out that Vermont passed laws refusing to help slave owners catch former slaves within its boundaries, in short, nullifying the Fugitive Slave Act.

Heck, even today in the same fashion, cities and towns that do not wish its police forces to be on the look out for illegal immigrants or turn them over to the INS, are nullifying our illegal immigration laws. And other localities have ruled that they will not help out federal law enforcement with enforcing the Patriot Act, thereby mitigating or nullifying certain aspects of that law. New Hampshire's Free State Project has nullification as part of its organizing doctrine.

So nullification is alive and well as we speak, it just takes the will to do so. And the more states that take up that will, the more the balance of power within the U.S. will begin to shift away from an authoritarian empire to decentralized confederacy which is what the founding father's intended in the first place. Remember, even within the Vermont Declaration of Sovereignty (who's authors hope to have town meeting votes on by March of 2007), the state will only nullify such laws that are unconstitutional, meaning it is not an invitation to anarchy. But other state's may very well nullify laws that are deemed economically ruinous to a state (as South Carolina did) or affects the citizens of a state (like not allowing a state's National Guard to be sent overseas in undeclared wars or in peacekeeping missions).

There are so many areas in which states and localities can exercise their authority that carry's out the will of the Founding Fathers. Let's hope more and more do before submission to the leviathan becomes not just an option, but a reality.

--Sean Scallon