Comments on: States’ Wrongs

By: Chet

Chet — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 04:12:37 +0000

Have you ever heard of Nazi Germany?

Yes, but we don’t live there. Here in America, on the other hand, I have to grapple with local interference about my TV antenna, which company can provide cable service, absurd restrictions on what I can hang from my rear-view mirror – and when I drive 40 minutes to Iowa, all those laws change. Massachusetts has universal mandated health care; Maine doesn’t. Evolution is taught in Minnesota and still against the law in Tennessee. Businesses in California have to deal with pernicious regulatory capture that preserves monopoly – and then research a whole new corpus of laws if they decide to open a branch in Oregon.

But most of us feel that we would rather have that power exerted locally, where we can have a voice in the decisions, than have it foisted upon us from the nation’s capital, where we have no voice.

No voice? You have two senators and a representative, just like I do.

By: MikeT MN

MikeT MN — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 02:42:29 +0000

Chet, I disagree with most of your statement, particularly your assertion that “local and state governments exercise far more interference in our lives than the Federal government ever could.” Have you ever heard of Nazi Germany? When the German states were strong, the people were free. When Hitler suppressed the last of the resisting states, Bavaria, everything was controlled by the central government. You may think the comparison is over the top, but to me it feels like that is the direction we’re headed.

Of course local governments must “interfere” in our lives. But most of us feel that we would rather have that power exerted locally, where we can have a voice in the decisions, than have it foisted upon us from the nation’s capital, where we have no voice.

By: Chet

Chet — Sat, 07 Mar 2009 05:17:20 +0000

Hrm, I kind of recall we had a war about “states’ rights”, remind me what the outcome of that was?

The truth is that Federalism is dead – and rightly so. American citizens shouldn’t have to be in the position of having to learn an entire new set of laws – or wonder about the legitimacy of their marriage or business – every time they drive two hours’ distance.

Federalism made sense in 1776 when a state could encompass a person’s entire life, and people saw themselves as (for example) Virginians first and Americans second. Now it’s not uncommon for people to have lived in three or five states over their lifetimes.

Now, we’re not South Dakotans or Nebraskans. We’re Americans, and there’s no reason that they should learn different biology or history in Alabama than they do in Minnesota. You’re obsessed about nearly-nonexistent threats to personal freedom, when in fact it’s the holdovers of Federalism that are the biggest threat to your freedom. Local and state governments exercise far more interference in our lives than the Federal government ever could.

The Fourteenth Amendment made us Americans, made us all Americans, and thank goodness South Dakota has 32 senators and representatives who didn’t wake up this morning determined to redraw the Mason-Dixon line.