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> The modern left dislikes it and prefers federal power.... I'd say rather that both left and right have a complicated relationship with the federal system; I
by blahedo 12y ago
> The modern left dislikes it and prefers federal power....
I'd say rather that both left and right have a complicated relationship with the federal system; I know plenty of lefties that are gratified, in the face of national pushback against their preferred initiatives, that they can at least make progress at the state level. And we have all seen evidence of even the most states-rights-rah-rah righties trying to make use of federal prohibitions and requirements when they thought that the national Zeitgeist was flowing in their direction.
I'm not calling anyone a hypocrite over this, by the way, and I think most anyone with a view on this would cop to a somewhat nuanced view if prodded.
- wooter 12y agoNot that I disagree, but which are the "most states-rights-rah-rah righties trying to make use of federal prohibitions and requirements when they thought that the national Zeitgeist was flowing in their direction"?
- eru 12y agoWho voted for the federal measures to twist the states into raising the drinking age to 21?
- deleted 12y ago[deleted]
- blahedo 12y agoOne example from a few years back was DOMA, which said that the federal government couldn't recognise same-sex marriages even if a state performed them (as they started to do a few years later). Another is No Child Left Behind, a Republican-sponsored measure (though like DOMA it did receive bipartisan support) that forced a lot of specific educational policy on various states that weren't very happy about it, but acceded because the alternative was federal defunding. Another is various efforts involving abortion and, lately, contraception; I hesitate to get too deep on specifics lest I derail the thread, but right-wing efforts there have not been confined to the state level. (Nor have left-wing efforts, obviously.)