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.

Obviously, there are a zillion things people don’t like about the federal government. At one time or another. And in any city or town, at any time, a majority of local government people might agree to oppose most anything.

If they are in a border town, they might easily oppose federal immigration policies.

If they live in a high-income burb, they could hate the income tax rates.

If they have a lot of Cubans in their midst they could be outraged if the federal government warmed up to Castro.

It’s okay to be outraged. But if you vote to ban federal offices from your city or town you will be doing it just for the publicity. You cannot expect your ban to hold water.