Pubdate: Wed, 16 Feb 2011
Source: Los Angeles Daily News (CA)
Copyright: 2011 Los Angeles Newspaper Group
Contact: http://www.dailynews.com/writealetter
Website: http://www.dailynews.com
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/246
Author: Michael Boldin
Note: Michael Boldin is the executive director of the Los 
Angeles-based Tenth Amendment Center.
Bookmark: http://mapinc.org/topic/Nullification

CALIFORNIA A NULLIFIER'S PARADISE?

Nullification. The word evokes images of white-haired men with 
tri-fold hats, holding up signs about the "evils" of Obamacare and socialism.

States around the country are considering laws to reject federal laws 
on health care, guns, the Environmental Protection Agency regulations 
and more. The pundits scream "racism," the legal experts cite the 
"supremacy clause," and the entire country - left to right - just 
might be missing the point.

As executive director of the Tenth Amendment Center, the organization 
which created the "Health Care Nullification Act" introduced in more 
than 10 states, I see many people who fit this stereotypical 
"tenther" image, too.

Whenever I speak at "Nullify Now!" events around the country, the 
crowd is predominantly these folks. While a few progressives 
occasionally join the protesters, one doesn't find too many 
20-somethings with Che T-shirts attending such events.

While the rhetoric coming from many on the right these days includes 
words like "nullification," and "state sovereignty," it has been the 
left, not the right, which has been successful in putting these ideas 
into practice. And, California has been at the forefront since the beginning.

When Californians voted to approve Proposition 215 to allow medical 
marijuana, the word "nullification" was not part of the argument, but 
it most certainly was the result. Opponents often cited the 
Constitution's "supremacy clause," saying the state had no authority 
to violate federal marijuana laws. But, Californians voted to violate 
those laws by the millions. And, when the Supreme Court ruled in the 
2005 Gonzales v. Raich case that state-level medical marijuana laws 
were, in essence, illegal, dispensaries around the state didn't start 
closing shop.

In fact, by 2005, there were nine other states that had joined 
California in passing medical marijuana laws. After the supremes told 
the country that such laws were a big no-no, how many were repealed? 
Zero. And since then, another five states - most recently, Arizona - 
have joined up.

Think about that. There are now 15 states actively defying Congress 
and the Supreme Court - and they're getting away with it. This, more 
than anything else, is what nullification is: any action which 
results in federal law(s) being rendered nearly unenforceable.

When I took a bike ride around my neighborhood in downtown L.A. the 
other day, I didn't find a single Drug Enforcement Agent shutting 
down an arts district grow shop. A recent trip to Venice confirmed my 
hunch that there are plenty of businesses and individuals openly 
nullifying federal laws with dispensaries galore. A visit to the Bay 
Area last fall verified the same.

But yet, how often does one hear a legal scholar or a political 
pundit spending time and energy on how these pot-dealers and 
pot-smokers are bringing chaos to America? How often do you hear that 
this active nullification of federal drug laws is done by people who 
hate President Obama for being black? I'll assume you've that heard 
just about as much as I have - never.

Medical marijuana isn't the only issue where Californians have taken 
a lead in standing up to the feds. In 2006, when the Congressional 
Research Service released a report on "sanctuary cities" around the 
country, California was at the head of the pack, with more major 
cities on the list than any other state in the country.

Oddly enough, I haven't heard about Washington, D.C., threatening to 
withhold highway funds. The national guard hasn't been sent in to 
force these cities to comply with federal immigration laws. But yet, 
that's what some claim will happen if health care nullification laws 
are passed today.

I doubt it. If today's nullification proposals follow in the path of 
the left's nullification of federal drug and immigration laws, it's 
quite possible we'll see the same kind of results. The feds backing off.

The real question, of course, is this - will gay marriage advocates 
in Maine, health care nullification advocates in Idaho, gun rights 
activists in Oklahoma, and marijuana advocates in California ever 
realize that they're actually on the same side?

They likely don't agree on specific issues, but they agree with their 
actions; the most difficult and divisive issues need to be dealt with 
close to home, in their states. Either way, it's good to be in 
California, where nullification is alive and well.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom