We are in that season of every legislative session where the desire of senators to cooperate and compromise with each other is just about gone. Several really good bills have been killed because of vote-trading schemes between senators across three factions (conservatives, liberals, moderates). None of these three factions have enough votes to get anything done by themselves, so coalitions have to be built. It is this time of the session when you get to see exactly who a senator really is. It is easy to see what is important to them and what is not. The votes on the board do not lie. 

I often speak of policy issues in this update, but today I want to talk about philosophy.

My friend Senator Mike Groene of North Platte introduced a resolution that reaffirmed the Nebraska Legislature’s commitment to the rule of law under the constitution. The first paragraph of LR 107 reads, 

“That we hereby reaffirm our solemn oaths of office by expressing a firm resolution to maintain and defend the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution  of  Nebraska  against  every  act  of  aggression  whether  foreign or domestic, including every act of unconstitutional abuse of power arising from the state or federal government.”

I was one of the thirty senators who co-sponsored this resolution. In view of a number of recent federal actions by the congress and the executive branch, I (and many fellow senators) felt it was appropriate for Nebraska to make loud and clear the point we will not be bullied by the federal leviathan. It has become increasingly obvious to many that our government in Washington is unmoored from its limited, constitutionally enumerated role. The looming threat to liberty has prompted a growing number of states to pass resolutions like this. 

Senator Megan Hunt of Omaha has taken a number of opportunities during floor debate to express her strong opposition to this resolution. She has introduced LR 118 requesting cooperation relating to defending the United States Capitol building and our democratic election process. She also introduced LR 121 requesting cooperation relating to defending the Constitution of the United States and the American people against future pandemics.

I hope every Nebraskan reads Senator Hunt and Senator Groene’s resolutions. The difference in the philosophy behind each of them is stark. I worry that much of our political discourse these days reflects an alarming move backwards as a society. We are reforming old divisions by breaking people apart into racial and other groups. Many assign a value to people based on these arbitrary differences. Not wearing a facemask outside, for example, means (to some) that you are threatening their life. We are watching “equality before the law” (celebrated in our state motto) disappearing and slowly being replaced by woke mob rule. 

About thirty years ago, after the fall of the Soviet Union, the country of Yugoslavia broke apart into a number of different nations. Ancient distrust quickly devolved into simmering hatred between these factions which led to a civil war that claimed over 140,000 lives, and over 2 million refugees. America’s adversaries see our growing social division. They watch us with hungry eyes. 

We need to settle our differences through a return to limited government, one of federalism that lets different states cooperate productively on matters of national importance while leaving local issues to state and local control. The states gave birth to the federal creature. They are no longer it’s master. It’s creeping expansion breeds infighting. Liberty brings a return to peace.