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One Solution to the Shutdown? Give More Power to the States
- ohiovr 8y agoMuster the courage to veto.
- SubiculumCode 8y agoI think there is a bit of wisdom here. There are substantial cultural differences across states. Thus the policies that they want vastly differ. State law will attune itself to the wishes of its citizens. However, the more emphasis on Federal law and programs receives in governance, the greater the mismatch between what people want and want they get in that governance. The stakes become that much greater and feeds political polarization, extreme views, and a whole lot of anger. De-emphasizing (again) the power of the Federal government could very well heal divisions, and increase the effectiveness of government. There are objections (e.g. 60's Civil Right Movement was helped by a Federal Constitutional intervention), but I do not think those objections invalidate the observation above and in the article. My bigger concern is that State budgets are, unlike Federal budgets, much like our personal budgets: You can borrow, but you can't print your own money; states are forbidden by the Constitution from printing their own currencies. That flexibility in Federal budgets using Treasury bonds gives the Federal government substantial more flexibility to institute well-funded policies. The Federal government can give States money, but it rarely comes without strings attached, hindering autonomy of State governments. I feel that a solution would be to fund States directly without restrictions on the use of those dollars.