There is next to zero chance that my comment on this fifth-grade research paper masquerading as a critique of Martha Dean will make it through moderation, so I reproduce it here:

“Almost every single sentence in this post is wrong. Your view of the Supremacy Clause is wrong, your view of Article III is grotesquely wrong, your summary of the history of nullification is absurd, and your comment about secessionists makes no sense. South Carolina was complaining that the NORTH was nullifying too much. Talk about getting the history exactly backwards!

“Completely left out of this fifth-grade research paper is the Richmond Ratifying Convention of 1788, the Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions, the Report of 1800, the use of the Principles of ’98 on behalf of free speech and free trade and against unconstitutional searches and seizures, military conscription, and the fugitive slave laws.

“Also left out is any indication that you even understand Jefferson’s argument, and why he favored nullification. You fall into a reflexive nationalism, right alongside the neoconservatives. The alleged ‘progressives’ are neocons plus sandals. Both agree that 300 million people ruled by one city is a-OK. Totally gone, because progressives know none of their own history, is the small-is-beautiful progressivism of Kirkpatrick Sale and the older Left.

“Yes, states’ rights is all about oppression. Riiight. Ever read Hitler’s views of states’ rights? I’ll give you a hint: he doesn’t side with me.”