Virginia Republicans, buoyant from the victory of Republican Bob McDonnell in the election for governor last November, seem to have determined that it's time to get out their horses and buggy whips and transport the state and its people back into the nineteenth century (from which we only recently emerged). The new Governor has declared himself in favor, meaning that his campaign claims of political moderation, and his promises to focus on jobs and economy rather than partisan political issues, have not survived even until his inauguration.
Virginia's Republicans say they are gearing up legislation to challenge the applicability of federal law in the state. They're not the only ones - there are some reports of legislators in New Jersey and Nevada thinking of challenging the federal health insurance mandate, for example. But to my knowledge only the backwoods rubes of the GOP's Virginia branch are discussing at least three such born-to-lose challenges by:
- Making it illegal to require people to buy health insurance.
- "Declaring" that the U.S. can't regulate commerce in items produced and sold solely within Virginia.
- Stating that guns made and sold within Virginia can't be subject to federal regulation.
Well, of course, some of this is just loose talk intended to make Democrats nervous; it's possible some, or none, of these initiatives will see the light of day, especially if Republicans consider how ridiculous they look. Nor is there much probability these initiatives, if passed, would survive a court challenge. After all, there's little or no legal ground for challenging the health insurance mandate; I'm pretty sure there are some precedents (e.g., cigarettes) where regulation of nominally-intrastate trade has been deemed constitutional for health or other reasons.
Nonetheless, I find fascinating the strong parallel between this discussion and similar ones back in the days of segregation. In both cases, we have politicians of the south denying the right of the federal government to apply its definition of federal laws - and even the Bill of Rights - to them. In the old days, it was Democrats (mainly); now the Republicans have taken up the same tattered banner of states' rights behind which to rally the troops of the regressive cause. In hypocritically trying to capitalize on the widespread unease and anger their own party's last President unleashed, Virginia Republicans - who meet in Richmond, the proud capital of the Old South - seem prepared to waste time and energy on tilting at windmills, rather than dealing with the state's pressing problems of budget, employment, and transportation.
This isn't new, but it's an increasingly rear-guard action. The GOP has taken the wrong lesson from eight years of Democratic success in the state.
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