Nullification Is On the Table: Will the Right Take Action?
The Right is discussing the abolition of federal agencies and the voiding of federal law at the state level; hopefully, it continues.
So far, this week has seen a massive spike in criticism of the federal government. On Sunday, “Abolish the IRS” began trending on Twitter following Congress Democrats passing the “Inflation Reduction Act” that included funding for 87,000 new IRS agents.
The next day, an even greater backlash against federal agencies took place after Donald Trump’s home in Mar-a-Lago was raided by the FBI. This led to many on the Right demanding that the FBI either be reformed or completely dismantled.
Florida Representative Anthony Sabatini responded to the raid by calling for the state government to sever ties with the DOJ and for the arrest of any FBI agent enforcing laws outside of State purview—this is similar to legislation he’s previously proposed that would have prohibited Florida law enforcement from cooperating with U.S. Capitol Police.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis also issued a statement on the recent event, saying that:
It’s apparent that the Right now sees the DOJ and IRS as a threat to their existence, and rightly so. What’s good about this realization is that it could be a catalyst in the nullification of federal laws at the state level—a crucial step toward decentralization.
But one problem that needs to be addressed is the crowd within the Right that sees reform as the solution as opposed to outright abolition; reform has correctly been labeled a “half measure” by critics.
As Auron MacIntyre tweeted in response to Jack Posobiec pushing for the RNC to adopt FBI reform as a platform:
In short, the totality of the problem is that the state and its organs are artificial hierarchies that are egalitarian and antithetical to the natural order. If the Right cannot understand that then it’s doomed to continue ceding ground to progressives.
This concept is something that Trump also didn’t understand—the current FBI director, Christopher Wray, was appointed by the 45th POTUS himself; he stated during his term that Wray would be a “great FBI director,” he was doing “really well,” and that Trump was proud of this choice.
So, even though political polarization and distrust in U.S. institutions is intensifying, it’s still uncertain which path will be taken by the Right. Nevertheless, it should be clear that the current role of anti-statists who have been saying “abolish the FBI” for ages is not to lambast the conservatives who are now calling for the dismantling of the FBI and IRS; it’s to keep them going in the right direction and steer the mainstream position of the Right toward the notion that these, and all, federal agencies must be eliminated.