Nationwide drive to push back federal government comes to North Carolina

2-5-2011 North Carolina:

RALEIGH --
A nationwide drive by conservatives to push back against the federal government by proclaiming the constitutional primacy of state laws is showing up in politically moderate North Carolina.

The argument common in the Republican legislation is that the 10th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution says that the powers not delegated to the federal government "are reserved to the states" or to the people.

"It's about time the states tell the federal government to get out of our business," said Rep. George G. Cleveland, R-Onslow, who introduced a resolution Thursday that stresses "North Carolina's right to claim sovereignty over certain powers."

"The federal government should not be dictating what we do in the states," said Cleveland, a retired Marine and fourth-term lawmaker whose district includes Camp Lejeune, the largest Marine Corps base on the East Coast. "Go home. We'll take of our business."

Rep. Glen Bradley, a freshman Republican and devotee of tea-party idol U.S. Rep. Ron Paul of Texas, is rounding up co-sponsors for bills that would exempt North Carolina farmers and firearms traders from federal regulations if their goods are made, sold and used within the state.

Bradley plans to push a third measure that aims to block the federal government's role in all business transactions that take place solely within the state. All three bills are based on 10th Amendment arguments that state statutes trump federal laws, said Bradley, R-Franklin.

Promoting local authority aims to reverse "the pyramid of power, with the states over the federal government, which is how it's supposed to be," said Bradley, who said he hated both parties before helping Paul's presidential campaign in 2007.

Bradley credits help from the Tenth Amendment Center, a Los Angeles think tank which has written models of legislation that states-rights lawmakers could introduce. Other model legislation claims state supremacy in environmental regulation and drug control.

The proposals add North Carolina to a national movement trying to limit federal authority through action in state capitals. Most of the tug between federal and state authority is coming from conservatives, though more than a dozen states, most of them liberal-leaning, now allow the use of marijuana for medical purposes, even though it is prohibited under federal law.

Measures in Texas and New Hampshire would exempt locally made guns and ammunition made in those states from federal regulation.

Virginia's House of Delegates approved a measure to exempt any goods made and sold within the state from federal law and federal oversight.

Utah legislators last year passed a law allowing the state to claim federal lands through eminent domain. A new proposal would void any federal land designation made without the Legislature's approval. More than 70 percent of the state's territory is managed by the federal government.

Republican lawmakers in nearly a dozen states from Idaho to Alabama are fighting President Obama's health-care overhaul law by introducing measures that hinge on the theory that states are entitled to "nullify" federal authority.

While a fundamentally conservative and rural state, North Carolina has a tradition dating to the mid-20th Century of being more liberal than its Southern neighbors on race relations, education policy and industrial development, said Gibbs Knotts, who co-edited the book "The New Politics of North Carolina."

The state was one of the few in the South to favor Barack Obama for president, but reaction against his administration and bad economic conditions swept Republicans into control in the General Assembly for the first time in more than a century.

"In 2011, North Carolina is a highly competitive two-party state. There are definitely some progressive elements, but traditionalism is still important in the state. There are still a lot of conservative voters that are very leery of big government and not supportive of expanding the size of government at this time," said Knotts, the head of Western Carolina University's political science and public affairs department.

"It can be an uphill battle to overturn federal law, but it doesn't mean that some people aren't trying," he said.

House Speaker Thom Tillis, R-Mecklenburg, said he wasn't familiar with Cleveland and Bradley's proposals, but said they would be vetted within GOP ranks to see whether they conform with broader Republican goals.

"This election cycle has produced a lot of diversity of thought. That is very healthy," he said. ..Source.. by Winston-Salem Journal