by Thaddeus G. McCotter
From Civil War nullification to modern sanctuary cities, Democrats revive a doctrine of conditional loyalty that defies federal law and risks renewed national chaos.
Roughly a decade and a half ago, I authored a Republican House policy paper identifying “sanctuary cities” as being ideologically premised upon the discredited and destructive doctrine of nullification. At the time, this was either ignored or derided, but never disproven. Time has tragically evinced its accuracy.
I cite this because today, others who have come to agree with this assessment now posit an ominous prognosis. In the cases of conditional loyalty to the law, the lessons of history are clear. When a substantial and determined swath of society deems itself above the law and justified in taking illicit and often violent means to attain its ends, the result is civil unrest and worse. Thus, the consequence for our free Republic is to again confront the looming prospect of a divided nation reprising its most momentous tragedy.
To wit, the earliest manifestation of the Democrats’ “conditional loyalty” to the Constitution and the duly enacted laws of the United States spurred the Civil War and was embodied in the political theory of “Nullification.” Specifically, the theory held that if a state disagreed with a federal law, the state could “nullify” the legislation by disregarding it. This theory, formulated and propagated by John C. Calhoun, was first applied to tariffs and, ultimately, slavery.
Viewing Abraham Lincoln’s election as president as an existential threat to its “peculiar institution,” Southern Democrats—excused and/or abetted by numerous “copperhead” fellow travelers in the north—abandoned the ballot for the bullet. The damage to the country—and the Democrat brand—was so extensive that the party hurled their belief in conditional loyalty into the trash can of history.
And there it remained, disreputable and dormant, for close to a century—until the segregationist Democrats went garbage picking in their failed attempt to retain Jim Crow laws against African-Americans.
The recrudescence of the doctrine of nullification occurred because the United States government finally recognized and began to remedy its failure to secure equality under the law for African-Americans, instead allowing segregation to metastasize throughout the defeated former Confederacy. As the Civil Rights movement impelled changes in federal laws and the Supreme Court rectified erroneous interpretations of the Constitution and ruled “separate is inherently unequal,” the process of expanding equality and liberty under the law was again met with obstinance by southern Democrats. Fearing the loss of their unconscionable and unconstitutional control of the African-American minority, the Democrats seized upon the doctrine of nullification.
The Democrats argued that the federal writ did not run in their states and cities and that segregation would remain the law of the land, regardless. Again, the doctrine of nullification ran rampant, violence ensued, and again, the primacy of federal law was affirmed. So ashamed of their behavior during this period, the party has attempted to risibly revise history and claim that all the Democrats who supported Jim Crow (and their descendants) are now actually Republicans. (One individual actually took this to the illogical extreme that John Wilkes Booth would now be a Republican.)
Yet, while once again having been burned by their use of the nullification doctrine, the Democrats—both south and north—have proven unable to resist it. The whole concept of “sanctuary cities” and the vehement opposition, refusal to follow, and, in fact, obstruction of federal law and its enforcement regarding immigration is based upon the doctrine of nullification. And, once more, it is about retaining control—this time, over both the illegal immigrant and their perceived right to rule, regardless of the outcome of democratic elections.
Shrilly virtue signaling altruistic righteousness, the Democrats hope one fails to see the sordid political selfishness of their nullification ploy to control illegal immigrants. Namely, their benefit to Democrats for redistricting and large swaths of federal and state funding (which is fungible), based upon population, not strictly citizenship. The mass deportation of illegal immigrants constitutes an existential threat to the Democrat Party and its operations and aims; consequently, Democrats are violating and obstructing federal law to prevent the deportation of individuals who are here in violation of federal law.
Still, the ideological and practical motivations of Democrats are buttressed by their psychological need for external validation. They need to be seen by their fellow party members and the public as morally superior to those who disagree with them. The result is that in their zeal to do all this, once more, Democrats have returned to their disastrous nullification doctrine. This is accompanied by the Democrats’ self-righteous caterwauling and ad hominem attacks against anyone who opposes their seditious doctrine.
So too, along the lines of their attempts to absolve themselves of their treacherous history by asserting modern Republicans are descendants of yesterday’s Confederate/segregationist Democrats, Democrats are now alleging the GOP is sparking a new civil war by enforcing federal law in the face of seditious Democrat opposition. One can only wonder how the Democrats will try to rewrite history to blame someone else after this latest reprehensible relapse into their nullification doctrine devolves into disgrace.
Just as in circa 1860 and 1960, Democrats believe they are laws unto themselves. That they individually and collectively profess to hold a “higher loyalty” to “my truth” to “justify” their pursuit of subjective political preferences regardless of the Constitution and federal law is undeniable. Again, Democrat elected officials violate their oaths of office to protect and defend the Constitution and the duly enacted laws of the land. Again, the Democrat Party embraces the nullification doctrine as a cudgel against federal laws they dislike. Again, their chaos cleaves our Republic.
And, regrettably, even as the Democrats resurrect their nullification doctrine, it bears stating the obvious: the Democrats’ rights cannot be even remotely considered infringed. Despite their paranoid delusions, the Democrats are not living in a dictatorship. They are living in a constitutional republic with democracy. Hence, they retain possession of every single God-given constitutional and statutory civil right as they had prior to the last election. They can use these fundamental rights to organize and impact the upcoming election, and, if successful, they will possess the opportunity to change federal immigration law. There is no call or excuse for attempting to nullify federal law. Unless, of course, Democrats only love “our democracy” until they lose.
Given the Democrats’ repetition of the nullification doctrine, it is best not to let history repeat itself. When exercising your civil rights prior to and during the next election, always bear in mind that the Democrats are willfully violating federal laws, in no small part to energize their base vote for the midterm elections. In this pending election, then, if you choose to reward with your vote the Democrats’ conditional loyalty, doctrine of nullification, and the chaos it wreaks, the past will become prologue; and, God forbid, a nation built upon “self-evident truths” will degenerate into a hellscape of subjectivity and civil unrest.
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An American Greatness contributor, the Hon. Thaddeus G. McCotter (M.C., Ret.) served Michigan’s 11th Congressional District from 2003 to 2012. He served as Chair of the Republican House Policy Committee and as a member of the Financial Services, Joint Economic, Budget, Small Business, and International Relations Committees. Not a lobbyist, he is also a contributor to Chronicles, a frequent public speaker and moderator for public policy seminars, and a co-host of “John Batchelor: Eye on the World” on CBS radio, among sundry media appearances.
Photo: Union soldiers advance in battle. Engraving published 1896. Original edition is from my own archives. Copyright has expired and is in Public Domain.
Thaddeus G. McCotter
Source: https://amgreatness.com/2026/02/07/the-democrats-conditional-loyalty/
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