Nothing so separates the sides of the culture war as attitudes over the Second Amendment and Abortion Rights. These are just the latest battles over state v. Federal power, which date back to Slavery, America's original sin.
Slavery was found in much of the world in the world by the middle of the 17th Century. Indeed, in parts of Northern Africa, like Niger, it is going strong. It was found in all of the colonies from Cape Cod to Cape Fear.
At the founding of the United States, the question of slavery almost killed the nation at its birth and again when the Constitution was crafted. The expectation was that slavery was not economical and would soon die out.
That changed with Eli Whitney. Whitney invented the concept of interchangeable parts, which allowed for the industrial revolution, especially in the manufacture of guns, and the cotton gin, which led to the manufacture of humans as a commodity.
The concept of State's rights, which is better understood as State government power, enabled the Slave Power with it's endemic racism, to thrive. The militia rights under the Second Amendment had two purposes: keep the Federal government in check and slaves in bondage.
Without guns, the poor whites and African slaves may have found common ground and brotherhood in revolution. The planter class would have quickly gotten a lesson in how to pick cotton. State power kept southern abolitionists quiet or dead. Southern Senators kept the federal government in check. Without an even split in the Senate and armed State militias, slavery could not have lasted.
Reactionaries always over-correct. It is necessary to avoid the pangs of conscience. This led to Dred Scott and the Fugitive Slave Act. Both radicalized abolitionists and led to the election of Lincoln, who corresponded with Marx.
The Civil War resulted. Northern manufacturing, a commitment to putting Nation before State and the Marxist income tax were ultimately stronger than Southern honor and its commitment to State over Nation. For all practical purposes, the question of the right of militias to stand against federal power was solved. The 14th Amendment codified this, especially Section 3. It states that
No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may, by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability.
Also Section 4, which states that
The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law, including debts incurred for payment of pensions and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall not be questioned. But neither the United States nor any State shall assume or pay any debt or obligation incurred in aid of insurrection or rebellion against the United States, or any claim for the loss or emancipation of any slave; but all such debts, obligations and claims shall be held illegal and void.
Revolution was outlawed in all cases, unless you win. During labor riots later on, one state militia sided with the workers. The result was the establishment of the National Guard and any rationale for an armed citizenry.
The other reason for the passage of the 14th Amendment were to overturn grandfather clauses and assure birth right citizenship for Freeman (and for all future generations - there was no limitation in the text, nor was one intended by the authors).
Sadly, Grant lost the peace by letting the Confederate soldiers keep their guns. This allowed the slave power (under the guise of peonage) to reassert itself once federal troops left the South as part of the deal to keep a Republican in the White House in 1872, rather than to allow counter-revolutionaries control the entire nation.
The flaw in the 13th Amendment led to peonage because it allowed involuntary servitude for commission of a crime. This loophole allowed the reinstatement of bondage on black men and women until FDR was informed that peonage would give the Fascists something to throw back in our faces. Even then, it persisted in the share cropper system until automated cotton harvesting replaced the need for human bondage.
Had the federal government been given the resources to police Southern labor practices, share cropping could not have lasted. The same reluctance and theory of state power in enforcement keeps Latino migrants in slavery today. Without weapons in the hands of Southern law enforcement, few migrants would stay in the factories to whom they were sold by coyotes.
The main victory for State power was Plessy v. Ferguson. The result was not just seperate but equal, but the Orwellian theory of the case that States had the authority to police themselves in matters of 14th Amendment enforcement, favoring majority tyranny over individual rights.
The majority was not actually represented in state legislatures, thanks to the lack of interest in local elections and the consequent impact of financing by local elites. Minority tyranny extended from voter intimidation to the rights of husbands over the bodies and finances of their wives. Recent history shows that it exists just below the surface in some Red States.
The Civil Rights precidents, from Hernandez v. Texas and Brown v. Board of Education through Roe v. Wade and Perry v. Schwarzenegger and Box v. Planned Parenthood are all a rejection of the State Power regime of Plessy.
Reject Roe and they all fall. Of course, there are many reactionaries who consider this a feature, not a flaw - including many Catholic bishops and traditionalists.
Of note are the facts that the gun rights movement and brandishing the Confederate Battle flag began as State power declined. When the Black Panthers armed themselves, white conservatives suddenly started to talk about gun control. The Panthers went away, but in the present day, police will shoot Black youth and men they think might be armed, even if they cannot see a weapon. Gun rights seem to be about guns for Whites only.
Two cases of note and one possible case would end the last vestiges State Power forever. If June v. Gee is decided without certiorari, it will show that the recent spate of Abortion laws will die quietly in federal district court. They will not even be heard by the Circuits.
The other case is the question of whether sexual identity is included in sex discrimination under the Civil Rights Act. This one may go either way, as Chief Roberts is usually against pushing federal statute further than intended, although he has no problem, nor do the other justices, with crushing state legislative violations of individual liberty. ENDA could otherwise be enacted by Congress, allowing it to define exceptions for religious groups. I suspect the Catholic bishops would jump at the chance. They always get mean right before they lose.
Section 5 of the 14th Amendment gives Congress (and Congress alone) the power to modify the terms of the Amendment, thus taking the heat off the Court. It states that
The Congress shall have power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article.
Under this power, and with the establishment of the National Guard, the Militia rights under the Second Amendment can be officially voided in a way the Courts would never challenge.
On Abortion, Congress, not the States, may move the start of legal status from viability (which is synonymous with birth as the ability to be born) to an earlier point in pregnancy, say assisted viability, assisted healthy viability, reaction to stimulus or embryonic blood circulation (early heartbeat). They will never go as far as the pro-life movement wants. Going anywhere near the first trimester hits the 5th and 14th Amendment rights of women and their doctors under due process rules. Selective enforcement is not allowed. If the government investigates elective abortion, it must also investigate therapeutic abortion. That is politically impossible.
Seizing guns for home protection is likely also a bridge too far. The battle goes on, but as time goes on it will likely occur on a much smaller scale should truth telling take precedence over rabble rousing on both sides. Courage and truth could make things better than our current politics.
Assault weapons and ammunition can be restricted by debarring federal contractors who sell to civilians. Goodbye NRA.
Abortion can mostly be prevented if its financial causes are ameliorated, providing respite care for Down's parents, lifetime income for its victims and an indexed middle income level negative income tax for each child as an offset to a subtraction Value Added Tax on employers. If both sides settle on this, the controversy ends. Goodbye NARAL and the NRLC. We won't miss the debate.
While we are on the subject of ending controversy, Section 4 of the 14th Amendment could justify ending the debt limit and allowing for automatic appropriation of funds subsequent to budget caps or a joint budget resolution.
Agree to a 22.5% Asset Value Added Tax on asset sales, dividends and even rent and the battle between the 20% Republican Party rate and the 25% Democratic Party is over. We are already at a 37% marginal rate, which sits in the middle of the 40% Obama and the 31% Bush rates.
The only thing lacking is the realization that there is no per capita debt. Debt is owed to the Treasury based on income tax liability. The top 10% owe more than half the debt, which they are leaving to their own children. Once they are made to realize this, they will beg for higher taxes.
Immigration is a GOP battle with itself. If the fight continues, the Republican coalition dies off. Giving every migrant the status they would otherwise be eligible for, save for the requirement of current legal status, makes objective sense. Only racism prevents this and MAGA racism is 20 funerals away from being irrelevant. Ever look at the age spread at a Trump Party event? Maybe only 19 funerals. The problem will not outlive its most vocal participants.
Oversight and local control of discretionary spending could be handled by regional caucuses and vice presidents. National enforcement of civil and worker rights and environmental laws could be funded by fines. We could then go back to 90 day congressional sessions. The Republic would finally be safe from demagoguery.
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