Zeoli: Christie's Crack Down On States Rights
By Rich Zeoli
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- "It was the states that created the federal government, not the federal government that created the states. We need to get back to that philosophy." - Governor Chris Christie
If as President of the United States you would use the federal government to crush state power, you are not a conservative. There's not debate about that. When Arizona took it upon itself to act in its own interest to deal with immigration, the Democratic party went crazy and ultimately a liberal federal judge ruled that only the federal government may legislate immigration. Except apparently when immigration law means driver licenses, benefits, in-state tuition, and literally ignoring federal law to detain illegal immigrants as Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter so boldly declared. When it comes to those issues, states and cities are apparently free to do whatever they want. But if a state takes steps to deal with immigration in a way the left doesn't approve, they go to court.
Just as Obama and other Democrats declared they would stop Arizona, when it comes to the issue of marijuana legalization, unfortunately New Jersey Governor Chris Christie is sounding like a big government Democrat and not a conservative Republican.
On a recent radio show (not mine) he vowed to use the federal government to "crack down and not permit" states legalizing marijuana. Now no matter what you think about marijuana, the issue isn't pot, its state rights. I don't smoke marijuana and I have no interest in smoking marijuana. But that's not the point. The point is federal versus state power. Conservatives want to limit the size and scope of the federal government by ensuring it only performs the functions outlined in the Constitution. So If a state wants to legalize something that is not prohibited by the United States Constitution (as alcohol once was by the 19th Amendment) where does the federal government get the right to stop them? Whether the issue is education, the environment, marijuana, or the drinking age, etc. the federal government literally tells the states what to do even though the states created the federal government not the other way around.
How do I know the states created the federal government and not the other way around? Because New Jersey Governor Chris Christie said so at a town hall in Whippany New Jersey just two weeks ago. And the Founders were very clear that limiting federal power was critical to liberty. So then why would Christie want to use federal power to stop a state from legalizing a substance not prohibited (as alcohol once was) by the Constitution? The correct answer to the pot question, like the gay marriage question, is as follows: show me the words pot and marriage in the federal constitution and we'll talk. Until that time, these are state issues and the federal government will focus on what the Constitution requires the federal government to focus on. All other powers are reserved to the states and the people as per the 10 Amendment.
For a conservative to threaten to use the big bad federal government to crush state autonomy on an issue like pot is not going to sit well with conservative voters. Rand Paul and Ted Cruz, the two actual conservatives in the race, have both said that they would not use the federal government to stop states. Hell even moderate Jeb Bush has said he won't use the federal government to stop the states. Incidentally, want to take a guess as to which President has used the federal government to prosecute more people in states that have legalized pot? If you said Obama you are correct. And sadly, on this issue, he and Chris Christie are simpatico.