Get on the Tom Woods Train Before It Leaves the Station
I predict that Tom Woods’ forthcoming book on nullification is going to be huge–and I am more confident in this than in my CPI predictions. Many Free Advice readers surely know this already, but I have seen firsthand (in my not-so-random samples) that there are some seriously angry people scattered across the country. The beauty of nullification is that it is something local governments can actually do that is not asking for a can of Sherman but also not completely pointless like, “Call your senator.”
You can pre-order the book at Amazon for $16.47. (Note I’m not even making money if you click that link. It’s not that I am against commissions, it’s that I’m lazy.)
Here is the publisher’s description (HT2 LRC):
Unconstitutional laws are pouring out of Washington…but we can stop them. Just ask Thomas Jefferson. There is a “rightful remedy” to federal power grabs—it’s called Nullification.
In Nullification: How to Resist Federal Tyranny in the 21st Century, historian and New York Times bestselling author Thomas E. Woods, Jr. explains not only why nullification is the constitutional tool the Founders envisioned, but how it works—and has already been employed in cases ranging from upholding the First Amendment to knocking down slave laws before the Civil War. In Nullification, Woods shows:
* How the states were meant to be checks against federal tyranny—and how a growing roster of governors and state attorneys general are recognizing they need to become that again
* Why the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution reinforces the rights of states to nullify unconstitutional laws
* Why it was left to the states to uphold the simple principle that an unconstitutional law is no law at all
* Why, without nullification, ordinary Americans will continue to suffer the oppression of unjust, unconstitutional laws
* How, through nullification, “stimulus spending,” Obamacare, and other unconstitutional expansions of federal power can be rolled back
* PLUS thorough documentation of how the Founding Fathers believed nullification could be appliedNullification is not just a book—it could become a movement to restore the proper constitutional limits of the federal government. Powerful, provocative, and timely, Nullification is sure to stir debate and become a constitutional handbook for all liberty-loving Americans.
Incidentally, your last chance to meet Tom Woods face-to-face will probably be at the Nashville “Night of Clarity” in July, when he will have loads of his new book to sign. After that, with all the stalkers and marriage proposals, I’m sure his wife will insist he become a recluse. So come to Nashville in July! I know there are a few Free Advice readers who have already bought their tickets. Aren’t you just dying to meet Bob Roddis to discuss ’60s music and money dilution?
Drudge linked to a EconomicPolicyJournal.com post… it’s got like 300 comments now!
http://www.economicpolicyjournal.com/2010/06/rating-cut-by-fitch-on-wealthiest-us.html
Nullification is an across the spectrum issue. Most “leftists” like to talk down on it like its just something for racist southerners to use against the man in the oval office, but all you have to do is point out that every state with medicinal marijuana laws is nullifying federal drug laws.
A legal dispute between the states and the federal government has nothing to do with jury nullification!
Oops, I didn’t see that Woods was talking about state’s rights as well — my bad.
Hmm… crack-pot idea that would help destroy the rule of law? Of course there’s someone from the Mises Institute who is in favor of it!
From here:
‘“When jurors enter a verdict in contravention of what the law authorizes and requires, they subvert the rule of law and subject citizens–defendants, witnesses, victims, and everyone affected by criminal justice administration– to power based on the subjective predilections of twelve individuals. They affect the rule of men, not law.” (Brown, Jury Nullification Within the Rule of Law, supra, 81 Minn. L.Rev. at pp. 1150-1151, fn. omitted.) A nullifying jury is essentially a lawless jury.
‘We reaffirm, therefore, the basic rule that jurors are required to determine the facts and render a verdict in accordance with the court’s instructions on the law. A juror who is unable or unwilling to do so is “unable to perform his [or her] duty” as a juror (§ 1089) and may be discharged.’
Gene, what exactly happened here? You came in, thinking Tom was talking about jury nullification, realized he wasn’t, then decided to rip him for talking about jury nullification?
Tom actually has some quotes from people like Jefferson etc. Are you sure they are all crackpots, with your quotation? (I’d dig up the reference but you seem to have linked to this very same post. Clever–get the Mises Institute people caught in an infinite loop.)
I bet Rothbard put more effort into researching Hegel than you did regarding Tom’s thesis.