Sean Swope: The neo-Confederate drift of blue states

America fought a war to stop this once. Now, it’s happening again. Across the country, blue states such as California, New York, Washington and Illinois are openly defying federal law — acting as if they get to decide which laws count and which don’t.

This mindset is nothing new. It’s the same neo-Confederate thinking that nearly destroyed our Union 160 years ago, now dressed up in progressive clothes.

We’ve seen where this road leads. In the 1830s, South Carolina tried to block federal tariffs under the influence of John C. Calhoun. That defiance nearly led to armed conflict. A few decades later, the same belief in state power over federal authority fueled the Confederacy and brought on the Civil War. The result was clear: states cannot pick and choose. Federal law is supreme.

Yet, in 2025, blue states are trying to drag us back to that fight.

California and New York call themselves “sanctuaries,” refusing to work with federal immigration officials. Washington has gone further, tying the hands of local police so they can’t cooperate with federal agents. Oregon is even trying to hand out food stamps to undocumented immigrants, ignoring federal rules. These aren’t just policy disagreements. They are open acts of defiance, where states act as though federal law doesn’t apply within their borders.

That’s the essence of neo-Confederate politics.

And the hypocrisy is stunning. For decades, Democrats railed against “states’ rights,” calling it a smokescreen for racism in the South. Yet, now they use the same tactic to block federal policies they don’t like.

If blue states can ignore immigration laws, then what’s to stop red states from ignoring federal rulings on voting rights, environmental protections or anything else? Once you make federal law optional, you no longer have one nation — you have 50.

The problem goes deeper than policy. In blue cities such as Portland and Seattle, antifa mobs have rioted, torched businesses, attacked police and even tried to burn federal courthouses. Instead of stopping the chaos, local leaders looked the other way — or, in some cases, encouraged it. By refusing to enforce the law against violent radicals, these states send a chilling message: laws only matter if you agree with them.

That is the very same spirit of rebellion that once split the country in two.

The Constitution leaves no room for this game. The Supremacy Clause in Article VI makes federal law the “supreme law of the land.” Without it, the United States collapses into a patchwork of territories. Progressives may claim they’re standing on moral ground, but good intentions don’t change the fact that defying federal law is unconstitutional and dangerous. That battle was fought and settled in 1865.

The federal government must respond. Cutting funding, filing lawsuits and enforcing the law are not heavy-handed — they’re essential to holding the Union together. Letting blue states keep walking this neo-Confederate path, while tolerating violent groups like antifa, will only deepen our divisions and invite disaster.

We are not separate camps of red and blue. We are the United States of America. That means federal law applies to everyone, whether you live in Texas or Washington. The Union was preserved once at a terrible cost.

We should not have to fight that battle again.

Blue states must turn away from this neo-Confederate drift and recommit to the rule of law — or risk dragging us all back toward the same divisions we once bled to overcome.

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Sean Swope is a Republican Lewis County commissioner.