…have a right to defend itself? It seems pretty clear that the federal government has fallen down on one of its basic jobs, per Article IV, Section 4.
[The United States] shall protect each of them [the States] against Invasion;
As Glenn notes, when armed people are coming across your border and kidnaping and killing people, seems like a textbook example of an invasion. But no, the federal government is too busy making us buy health insurance and regulating how much salt we should eat to meet its constitutional responsibilities.
Part of American exceptionalism is the rule of law and equal protection. Disregarding our laws violates the concept.
Ken,
Seems to me many people violated the 55 MPH law and the country survived. Ditto with prohibition. Which is the point Adam Smith was referring to in regards to smuggling.
Its easy to pass a law that sounds good emotionally, but if the law is divorced from the real world, as the immigration laws are, all the money in the world will not enforce it. Look at the extremes East Germany went to in order to enforce its laws limiting emigration and still they failed.
Look at all the money spent on try to enforce immigration in the last 40 years and the failure its been. Indeed if anything it increased then because of the economic need for illegal immigrates to meet the labor needs of agriculture. Arizona’s law, if its even found to be constitutional, won’t stop immigration, it will only make the problem worst by driving it further underground. And probably destroy the Arizona economy in the process.