“Oooh, the historical juices are flowin’,” crooned Smallholder, “I know it will push the AirMarshal’s post down the blog, but I jest caint t’hep miself.”

Speaking of states’ rights:

Don’t you just love Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address? Most people think he was extolling the virtues of democracy - and he was - but he was also sticking a big, long, rail-splitting middle finger in the eye of the state compact theory. “Of the people, by the people, for the people” is an explicit reference to Madison’s ratification plan and a general spanking to the whole theory of the right of secession. Heh. Ha. Hee.

Speaking of states’ rights some more:

I think we have a more recent historical argument about states’ rights than the Civil War.

Remember “Massive Resistance?”

Pop Quiz:

What was the motivation behind the vitriolic, vehement, and violent embrace Southernors gave to Massive Resistance in the wake of Brown v. Board of Education?

a) A scholarly, intellectual, and nuanced interpretation of the proper balance of the relative power of states and the federal government.

b) Keep dem black people outta mah kid’s skool!

Hint: Eisenhower knew the right answer and had the right response.