Bulwark? Or Route to 50 Tyrannies?

At a blog called The Existential Republic, Chris Armitage discusses an interesting political development: State governors, mostly Democrats, are working together to neutralize Donald Trump's abuses of power as well as parts of his federal agenda.

The good and bad news is that -- just as Trump has borrowed heavily from the left -- they are modeling their actions on what Republican governors have been doing for some time:

Texas has been running this exact playbook for years. Operation Lone Star achieved an 87% reduction in border crossings through state action alone, regardless of federal immigration policy. Nearly 46% of U.S. counties have declared themselves Second Amendment sanctuaries.

Armitage follows this with the following quote: Blue states are finally learning what red states have known all along: you don't need federal permission to govern.

The efforts include cooperating on potential litigation, passing state laws that replace federal laws no longer in force, and refusing to cooperate with certain federal mandates:

[Illinois Governor] Pritzker has his staff exploring how to force Apple and Google to disable location tracking for anyone crossing into Illinois for medical procedures, preventing any digital trail that could be subpoenaed. Multiple governors are studying whether they can legally deny federal agents access to state databases, airports, and even highways for immigration enforcement. The discussions, according to sources, have gone as far as evaluating state authority to close airspace to federal deportation flights. States are creating pharmaceutical stockpiles, climate agreements, immigration policies. The National Popular Vote Interstate Compact has secured 209 electoral votes. The Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative's 11 states have reduced emissions by 50% while the federal government rolled back climate regulations. The U.S. Climate Alliance's 24 governors represent 60% of the American economy.

The first measure -- disabling location tracking -- should remind us of the Texas law that allows random people to sue abortion providers. This trend can cut both ways, including in blue states, as seen by California's use of the Texas tactic for gun restrictions. And then, further down the paragraph, while the blue states are largely protecting personal freedom from Trump, note that they remain hellbent on committing the economic suicide that is the green anti-fossil fuel agenda.

It remains to be seen whether this answer to federal tyranny will serve as a much-needed bulwark against it, or prove simply to be a step on the road to fifty state tyrannies.

-- CAV