God bless America, because we sure could use it

In what I am sure will earn another segment on The Daily Show, South Carolina lawmakers are debating a resolution that calls for a constitutional convention to consider an amendment allowing states to repeal any federal law that disturbs their sensibilities. In what would be a sick joke in saner times the phrase "states' rights" is once again being used complete with strange little gleams in the eyes of good old Southern boys eager to protect their wives, daughters, and property from some federal phantom bogeyman.

That this sounds so much like so many previous attempts to cloak neo-Antebellum mindsets in modern clothing leaves many with some commonsense numb with despair. Its not like South Carolina lawmakers have nothing better to do, many of our schools are educational wastelands, the unemployment rate is 10.7%, and huge segments of the state infrastructure could be used as movie sets for war torn third-world countries. But no, aside from a few exceptions South Carolina had never really entered the twentieth century and like the country itself is completely lost in dealing with the problems of the twenty-first.

So like petulant children, we rehash futile old crusades that we were on the wrong side of history to begin with making us a laughing stock. There is one consolation in all this, seventeen other states are considering similar resolutions so all the ridicule cannot be directed at us. But I'm sure that in some Chinese think tank the highly educate types whose job it is to make their country number one in the world are rolling in floor laughing wondering if the Americans will just tear themselves apart.

S.C. House proposal lets states reject federal laws.

 

Nullification lives again.
States' rights vs. federal rule took center stage Wednesday as South Carolina House lawmakers battled over a resolution to give states veto-like power over federal rules and regulations.
Ultimately, House members approved the resolution – backed by House Speaker Bobby Harrell, R-Charleston – and the Republican majority, by a 72-44 vote.

The measure asks Congress to call a constitutional convention to consider a 28th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution that would allow states to repeal any federal law if two-thirds of state legislatures disagree with it.
“This would give the state's a veto right that would not be the same as but would be similar to a presidential veto,” said state Rep. Jay Lucas, R-Darlington, who led the charge for the bill.
Saying they are concerned about the erosion of states' rights and a federal government that they see as overreaching, 17 states are considering the proposal, Lucas said. South Carolina is the second state where the idea, which still must win Senate approval, has been voted on.
Democrats said the measure is a distraction from the state's more pressing problems, including its 10.7 percent jobless rate -- one of the highest in the nation -- and the need to create jobs. They called the measure a misguided reaction to Democratic-led federal initiatives, including health-care reform and a threat to minorities, women and others not in power.
“It was the federal government that took care of all aspects of civil rights legislation,” said state Rep. David Mack, D-Charleston, a African-American lawmaker who grew up in the civil rights era. “South Carolina had to be dragged screaming and kicking because they didn't want to do it because (S.C. lawmakers said) the federal government was encroaching and overstepping its grounds.”
Republicans said the resolution's intent is not to disenfranchise minorities or women. Instead, they said the resolution is non-partisan effort that Democrats should join Republicans in supporting to preserve states' rights.
“This would have to be (a federal bill) so egregious that (state legislatures controlled by) Democrats and Republicans would have to jump up and say, 'We're not going to take it anymore,’ ” Lucas said.