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| Decatur, Ala. | Wednesday, May 22, 2013 |
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6/26/12
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2250 views
Editorial
It’s not about the immigrants
Many in this state are angry, and that anger increased Monday when the U.S. Supreme Court struck down most of an Arizona law targeting undocumented immigrants.
The decision was a near-complete defeat for an Alabama Legislature that passed a law that, by design, was even harsher than the Arizona law.
While the Arizona and Alabama laws were about immigration, the Supreme Court’s decision was about something more fundamental. The decision was about the fragile bond that maintains the United States of America.
Democracies are sloppy. They acknowledge that there are few universal truths, that “right” and “wrong” are concepts upon which people tend to disagree. To survive, a nation must have a method for resolving those disagreements. In America’s democratic republic, the majority generally gets to decide. Every legislative and executive pronouncement overwhelms a frustrated minority.
The American tension is not just between the majority and the minority, but between the federal and state governments.
Both have areas of sovereignty. For the union to endure, it must recognize a non-violent method of resolving conflicting claims of sovereignty.
After a failed experiment in which state authority trumped federal, our Founding Fathers drafted, and the states ratified, a constitution that gave federal law supremacy.
The same constitution gave the federal government explicit authority to determine questions of immigration.
The Supremacy Clause does not disenfranchise anyone. Each of us has a right to vote on which candidates will represent us in the federal government. With few exceptions, Alabama’s elected representatives to the federal government support more restrictive immigration laws. Each of us has a voice.
What we do not have is a right to dictate our beliefs to the majority. We may resent being in the minority and we may try to convince others that our views should be adopted by the majority, but our nation cannot survive a rejection of majority rule.
Immigration is an important issue. More important, though, is the Constitutional fabric that preserves the union. Rip that and we have nothing left.
The Supreme Court’s decision was neither pro-immigration nor anti-immigration. It was merely a validation of the mechanism by which we strive to preserve our nation.
Today’s angry minority could be tomorrow’s jubilant majority. It may not be pretty, but America owes its greatness to the democratic process the Supreme Court upheld.
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We are not a democracy, we are a republic, it is not majority rule, that is why we have 3 branches of government. What we have now is a breakdown in how our government is intended to run. Odumbo thinks he doesn't have to go thru Congress or the Supreme Court to get his way, he is on his way to becoming a dictator if he is re-elected. It is not a matter of State versus Federal, it is the States trying to enforce the laws, already on the books, because the Federal government WILL NOT!
And after the decision, Obama has told Arizona we will not open our files for your police requesting information unless it involves a felony like not voting our way or a Charles Manson wannabe. If perhaps a person of this character is arrested
just hang on to him/her till we get there.
We have a president who is picking what LAWS the DOJ will or will not inforce.Remember DOMA? Now he has decided to totally ignore immigration laws.Maybe the SCOTUS was right.But when you have a president who isn't enforcing fed laws what is a state supposed to do? To all you libs out there....what if a president comes along that decides his administration isn't going to inforce Roe v Wade? And BTW these people are not immigrants,they are illegal aliens.Also I don't know where the dd gets it's numbers because the majority of citizens believe the immigration laws should be inforced.
The Daily should move to mexico...
Looks to me the Feds are discriminating against Arizona, hopefully Arizona sues the idiots that are halfway trying to screw up this Country. The entire washington bunch are a Comedy of Cluster Errors........
This administration is aiding and abetting illegal aliens and it's time for Obama to be impeached!
If our founding fathers had thought that the states who formed the union would have the states stripped of all power as they have been the constitution would never had been ratified. It was viewed as a voluntary union up until that issue was settled not by a vote but by blood in the 1860's. I wonder if at times if the editor of this paper has ever bothered to even read the writings of the founding fathers. They feared an all powerful federal government and set limits on it in the Constitution, limits which have been violated over and over. The Constitution says that all powers not delegated are reserved to the States and the people. I pray for our country as we seem to be headed headlong toward a form of government that our founders would not recognize.
If states can not support and be more restrictive than federal law, then California needs to be sued by Eric Holder. If not, he is a hippocrit, a political tool, and a disgrace to our judicial system and our Republic.
AS-IN-NINE statements from Poor Old White Republicans wanting to take us back 300 years. States rights, wow, do we want to go there? Bust out your old bonnie blue and burn the Unites States flag, really do you want that? Don't you remember yall lost that battle.
Bubba hates haters.......
soooooo, can someone just please explain to me why we have laws??????