Whoot Whoot….. Shaking it up…. (AP) — With each bill, newly elected tea party lawmakers are offering Montanans a vision of the future. . . .  Some residents, Democratic Gov. Brian Schweitzer and even some Republican lawmakers say the bills are making Montana [too conservative]. And, they say, the push to nullify federal laws could be dangerous.  “We are the United States of America,” said Schweitzer. “This talk of nullifying is pretty toxic talk. That led to the Civil War.” 
A tea party lawmaker said raising the specter of a civil war is plain old malarkey. “Nullification is not about splitting this union apart,” freshman Rep. Derek Skees said. “Nullification is just one more way for us to tell the federal government: ‘That is not right.”  The nullification debate reached a fever pitch this week when tea party conservatives mustered enough votes in the House to pass a 17-point declaration of sovereignty.
“States retain the right of protecting all freedoms of individual persons from federal incursion,” the measure in part reads. Now, it heads to the Senate, where ardent states’ rights conservatives have less influence and its fate is less certain.
House Minority Leader Jon Sesso stood in the House Chamber, exasperated. He peppered Republicans with questions: Who decides if the federal government is acting unconstitutionally? “Who among us is making these determinations that our freedoms are being lost?” he asked, an incredulous expression on his face as he eyed the Republican side of the chamber.
Republican Rep. Cleve Loney rose. A man of few words, the tea party organizer replied: “I don’t intend us to secede from the union. But I will tell you it is up to us. We are the people to decide.” The political movement that caught Democrats by surprise at the ballot box also caught them flat-footed at the Legislature. (read full article)