This week, Republican governors across the country escalated their conflict with the Biden administration over the southern border by invoking the same legal theory that slave states wielded to justify secession before the Civil War.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, joined by 25 other GOP governors, now argues that the Biden administration has violated the federal government’s “compact” with the states—an abdication that justifies state usurpation of federal authority at the border.
This language embraces the Confederacy’s conception of the Constitution as a mere compact that states may exit when they feel it has been broken. It’s dangerous rhetoric that transcends partisan grandstanding. And as before, it’s being used to legitimize both nullification and dehumanization.
Plenty of businessmen who are absolute fucking loons. Just look at the Mypillow guy. Same way the American Revolution got started, and the US Civil War. Rich folk loan the rebel government money either out of idealism or as a bet on the success on the rebels.
My point isn’t that it’s sustainable. My point is that it’s very possible to lure people who are living paycheck-to-paycheck to get involved in a war at the outset. The issue comes if the war drags on, and the rebel government starts to have trouble paying wages.