In response to:
The States, as sovereigns, only give the Federal government as much power as they allow it. They also have the authority to withhold consent to Federal laws. The greatest danger to the States is the standing Federal army, which can be use to attack dissenting states. Lincoln was wrong - and the Union Government outside its powers, to use force to prevent the secession of the South - it was their right as States. An army that must be called up from the militias of the states is a check on the power of the Federal Government against the states. We have lost the doctrine that the State's sovereignty was the fourth check and balance behind the Constitution.
Let’s start with a shocking, but true premise: If you are a patriotic American, you believe that there are circumstances under which it is right to take up arms against your own government. That statement feels wrong to me. It reeks of militia and McVeigh and toothless loons holed up with guns in cabins in order to avoid paying income taxes.
But the fact remains that the rationale for the existence of the nation known as the United States of America, which first appeared in print 236 years ago today, is entirely dependent on the premise...
When the seventeenth amendment was adopted, the states lost their voice in the federal government.
Attempts to nullify by ignoring federal laws have been ineffective at best.
It can be given the "appearance" of legitimacy by enforcement - but that does NOT make it legal. It just makes the enforcers, usually unknowingly, criminals.
You should recognize this from what happened in Germany, where the legitimate government was taken over from within. Where enemies of that government got into places of power within it and created illegal laws that was enforced by those who "follow" orders.