The False Alternative of Dictatorship or Dictatorship
In opinion piece Andrew P. Napolitano presents us with the false alternative of dictatorship or dictatorship:
One is not truly free if one cannot leave the government. This applies to people as well as to political subdivisions. The forced retention of people or geographical units under the government’s monopolistic jurisdiction is totalitarian.
Without the threat of nullification and secession, there is no effective restraint on the feds.
Echoing the ideas of the sovereign citizen movement and the advocates of states’ rights, Napolitano argues that individuals and states should not be subject to laws that they consider unconstitutional. In practice, this means that states can defy the federal government in regard to issues such as contraception, same-sex marriage, or mixed-race marriage if they believe such rulings are unconstitutional.
In practice, this means that states may do anything they choose, and the federal government should not intervene. If a state wants to enact any rights-violating policy, it should be allowed to do so. At the end of the day, Napolitano wants to restrain the feds by removing all restraints on the states. He wants us to believe that we will stop the federal government from becoming a dictatorship by allowing the states to become dictatorships.
Giving us a choice between forms of dictatorship isn’t a real choice. It is no different from a robber who demands your money or your life. He has given you a “choice,” but it is between two false alternatives. You have a right to both your money and your life. Similarly, our choice isn’t between two different forms of dictatorship. Our choice is between dictatorship and freedom.
When a state government enacts a rights-violating law, the federal government should intervene. When a local government enacts a rights-violating law, the state government should intervene. Indeed, many states, including Texas, have passed laws prohibiting local governments from enacting certain types of rights-violating laws.
The proper purpose of government at every level is the protection of individual rights—the freedom of each individual to live as he chooses so long as he respects the freedom of others to do the same. Promoting that idea, not nullification and secession, is the proper way to restrain the federal government.