I hate to break it to you, but the South before the CW was never interested in STATES Rights, only in THEIR rights. The South was over-represented in Congress due to slaves being counted as 3/5s a person for assigning representation, but as slaves could not vote, all that political power was concentrated in the hands of white slave holders, and they used that power to hammer through such things as the Fugitive Slave Act and to get pro-slavery judges appointed to the Supreme Court.

The South intended, and was working hard to, make slavery legal in every state in the Union, whether those states wanted slavery or not. The Fugitive Slave Act alone did more to cause the Civil War than any act of the Federal Government. It incensensed the anti-slavery Northerners, who should have had the right to outlaw slavery within their borders, but due to Southern political power, did not.

So think about that.

As to today's sectional reaction to healthcare reform, I have to ask why the states that are now so concerned with 'liberty' did not react against the Patriot Act? I would have had much more respect for them if they had stood up to the Federal Gov't when it was a question of real freedom. Standing up only when it hits their pocketbook fills me with scorn.