California’s Defiance Exposes a House (and Senate) Divided

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American Greatness

California’s Defiance Exposes a House (and Senate) Divided

By Michael Walsh| March 6, 2018

Despite the passing of President Trump’s DACA deadline this week, with no action by Congress and even less notice from the media, California’s slow-motion revolt against the federal government continues apace. What began with the acceptance of lifestyle crimes such as marijuana smoking in violation of federal drug laws has turned into an all-out rejection of the nation’s immigration laws, followed by unilateral action by states and cities to declare themselves “sanctuaries” for illegal aliens.

 As we learned in 1861-65, state nullification of federal laws is not compatible with a federal system; “a house divided against itself cannot stand,” as Abraham Lincoln put it in his famous speech accepting the Republican nomination for Senate from Illinois in 1858. Although he lost to Stephen Douglas that year, and while he was talking about slavery, the principle still holds true today as applied to similarly divisive issues.

A house divided against itself cannot stand. I believe this government cannot endure, permanently, half slave and half free. I do not expect the Union to be dissolved—I do not expect the house to fall—but I do expect it will cease to be divided. It will become all one thing or all the other. [Emphasis mine]