So how do you think the U.S. government should respond to the city of Berkeley, California?

The Berkeley City Council voted a few weeks ago to boot the Marine Corps recruiters from the city’s downtown.

The council did this because its members oppose the Iraq War. They also don’t like the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy on gays. That is not a Marine Corps policy. It is a Bill Clinton policy imposed on all the armed forces.

This is grandstanding. The Marines are not likely to budge. And if the city was ever stupid enough to take this to court it would lose

I hope the council does take it to court. They deserve to be humiliated. And to be seen to waste taxpayers money on such a silly gesture.

Suppose the federal government tolerated such behavior from cities. It would mean cities could pick and choose what they wanted to comply with.

If they didn’t like the level of Social Security payments they could kick Social Security out of town. If they disagreed with a court ruling they could ban the federal courts from the city. If they thought income tax rates were too high, they could banish the IRS from their domain. And tar and feather the IRS auditors at the same time. Good luck with that, city council guys.