South's declining relevence on the federal level

[grumbler]

I think it's his girl friend you fucking retard.

[ulmont]

Nope.  These are limits on Federal and individual powers.  Rights exist independent of Constitutions.  The "right" to secede is, in Constitutional terms, far more realistically a "right" than is the "right" not to have borders altered without consent from the state legislature.

I disagree.  If a state, as a Constitutional matter, cannot have X event happen to them, that is a right of the state.

[grumbler]

I disagree.  If a state, as a Constitutional matter, cannot have X event happen to them, that is a right of the state.

You should feel free to assert whatever random thoughts cross your mind as "truths,' but don't expect anyone to take them seriously uhnless backed by some actual thought.

If you want to argue 'state's rights' then you have to indicate the source of those rights.  The Constitution of the US grants no rights (again, excepting the putative "right to vote" which, as we know, isn't a right per se at all), it merely refers to them, and certainly we don't hold the truth to be self evident that all states are created equal, and are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights.

So, whence come the rights of the states?  The mere assertion of the states-rightsers?

[Syt]

A serious question to lettow: could you change your avatar, please? Of all the pictures of girls available on the net, you had to pick one that shows a fugly fat girl with a lousy haircut and an expression of a mentally challenged hamster? For shame. 

While the looks in general may be a matter of taste ... fat? Are Poles so malnourished that *this* looks fat to you?

[Martinus]

I think it's his girl friend you fucking retard.

I know that, you fucking retard. Don't see exactly how this changes the validity of my comment.

[Martinus]

I think it's his girl friend you fucking retard.

I'm guessing that he knew that.

Yep.  Then again, if I looked like Martinus, I wouldn't be ragging on how anybody else looks.

Well, at least I do not look like a red-faced fat piglet, like you. Seriously, I've seen your pictures from the London meet. 

[Neil]

Well, at least I do not look like a red-faced fat piglet, like you. Seriously, I've seen your pictures from the London meet. 

Actually, I'm, quite striking.  My proportionally-sized jaw and lips, as well as my lack of Slavic features make me quite pleasant to look at.

[garbon]

Beauty contest!

[ulmont]

The Constitution of the US grants no rights (again, excepting the putative "right to vote" which, as we know, isn't a right per se at all), it merely refers to them

The Constitution spells out the states' right to territorial integrity.

[The Brain]

If the Constitution wasn't so well protected I would wipe my ass with it.

[Berkut]

The Constitution of the US grants no rights (again, excepting the putative "right to vote" which, as we know, isn't a right per se at all), it merely refers to them

The Constitution spells out the states' right to territorial integrity.

No it doesn't, unless you define "right" as any rule of government. Might as well say I have the "right" to not drive over 45mph outside my house.

[The Minsky Moment]

Article IV
Section 3. New states may be admitted by the Congress into this union; but no new states shall be formed or erected within the jurisdiction of any other state; nor any state be formed by the junction of two or more states, or parts of states, without the consent of the legislatures of the states concerned as well as of the Congress.

The Congress shall have power to dispose of and make all needful rules and regulations respecting the territory or other property belonging to the United States; and nothing in this Constitution shall be so construed as to prejudice any claims of the United States, or of any particular state.

Section 4. The United States shall guarantee to every state in this union a republican form of government, and shall protect each of them against invasion; and on application of the legislature, or of the executive (when the legislature cannot be convened) against domestic violence.

Amendment XI

The judicial power of the United States shall not be construed to extend to any suit in law or equity, commenced or prosecuted against one of the United States by citizens of another state, or by citizens or subjects of any foreign state.

OK, still don't see anything there about the rights of States. Probably because they don't have any.

Are we reading different Constitutions, perhaps?

That gives the States the following rights:

1) Not to have their geographic borders rearranged without their consent;
2) Not to be invaded or have a republican form of government replaced; and
3) Not to be sued in federal court by a non-State citizen [interpreted to generally codify sovereign immunity for states].

That's not how I read those provisions.

Art IV, Section 3 is an affirmative grant of power to the federal government to admit states in the union, and to make rules and regulations for the territories.  The "but" clauses is simply a limitation on that affirmative grant of power.

Art IV Section 4 is another affirmative grant of power to the federal government.  Although it is phrased as if an obligation, its actual effect is to give the federal government the power to intervene in state affairs by force if necessary under certain conditions, so I would hardly characterize it as a "state right".  The clincher is that the decision to invoke the domestic violence provision is confided to the federal Congress.  The states have no ability to cause the feds to act with respect to the other provisions - and we all know that rights without remedies are not rights at all.

The 11th amendment is just a rule limiting the scope of federal court jurisdiction.

[grumbler]

The Constitution of the US grants no rights (again, excepting the putative "right to vote" which, as we know, isn't a right per se at all), it merely refers to them

The Constitution spells out the states' right to territorial integrity.

No, it doesn't.

I suspect that we aren't going to get anywhere because you are using a completely different definition of what a "right" is than is used by anyone else, so this will just be a "yes it is - no it isn't" waste of time.

States have no rights in the sense that term is used in the law.  If your mileage differs, then you don't use "rights" in that sense.

[PDH]

Wyoming has a lot of rights. Very few lefts.