Republicans can't seem to get enough of writing letters telling others why they should ignore Federal laws or procedures.
Thursday, Senator Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) sent a letter to all fifty state governors telling them the Environmental Protection Agency was involved in a "power grab" in enforcing clean air regulations designed to reduce carbon emissions from coal-fired power plants.
More below the orange haze.
I swear, from my perch in Wyobraska (the Nebraska Panhandle), it looks like the GOP is involved in a slow-moving coup against the Federal government.
McConnell's premise seems to be the EPA does not have the authority to enforce such pesky things as the Clean Air Act. His solution: the states should simply ignore the EPA — presumably this would allow time to mount a lawsuit, or perhaps delay until the next election.
Rachel Maddow's blog, with further links to the New York Times on the issue.
Lexington Herald-Leader, where Senator McConnell's full letter appears. The comment section of the letter has over a hundred people tearing the senator apart.
Don't be complicit in the administration's attack on the middle class. Think twice before submitting a state plan — which could lock you in to federal enforcement and expose you to lawsuits — when the administration is standing on shaky legal ground and when, without your support, it won't be able to demonstrate the capacity to carry out such political extremism.
There is only one extremist here, Senator McConnell. Hint: it is not President Obama or President Nixon's EPA. The whole letter is a fascinating study in dissembling and obfuscation. It is practically a call to secession.
I understand Senator McConnell is beholden to his constituents (the coal industry and Koch Industries). But at what point do such open calls constitute sedition? Did not Senator McConnell swear to uphold and defend the Constitution (that pesky parchment that allows the Federal government to make laws and regulations that cover all the states)?
Now if a state wanted to pollute its air as badly as Beijing, and it could keep that air within its own boundaries, that might be one thing. But air has a tendency to move around, and it won't stay in a state where the governor has decided that state nullification (an issue settled in 1865) trumps Federal law.
The Clean Air Act does contain a provision that allows suits by third parties (such as citizen's groups) to bring action in court. Such actions though are necessarily slow, and organisations such as the Sierra Club are simply not funded the way the fossil fuel industry is.
It appears that the Commonwealth of Kentucky itself is ignoring Senator McConnell, pushing forward with plans to bring the state into compliance with Federal regulations. Too bad for you, Senator McConnell, that your state legislature seems to understand the role of government and legislators better than you.
At what point do the People consider that one party has gone far beyond the role of "loyal opposition," (or just "loyal") and begin to consider their constituents are money and their loyalty is not to the Constitution and the nation's laws that party has sworn to uphold?
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I understand a large portion of Republicans do not suffer from Obama Derangement Syndrome. It matters, though, that many of the Republican leadership do. They will continue to drag what would otherwise be a credible conservative movement to more extreme and decidedly non-conservative positions. This cannot be good for our Republic.
