Federalism Revisited

In my last writing I talked about the tenth amendment. I feel it it is the unsung and ignored hero of the Constitutional Amendments. The only time that Congress even acknowldges that it exists is when it's a viable argument to block some piece of legislation or make some political issue sound more feasible. Hey, should one amendment carry more weight than the others? Weren't they all adopted with the same passion and intent?

There is a lot of logic to back up uniformity in laws and regulations in the various states of the nation. We are citizens of the United States not the state of Texas, Maine or California. The mobility and civil and commercial itercourse across state lines makes it illogical not to have common recognition of basic rights and institutions. To not be able to drive from state to state without a specific drivers license in each state would be lunacy.

However states are different. People in South Carolina don't always hold the same values or have the same problems as the people of Maine. This is supposed to be where Federalism comes to play. Especially in the area of values and traditions the bonding together of the individual states had the intent of letting each state maintain its identity, traditions, and approach to local problems, while allowing conformity in matters of interstate commerce, defence, etc.

Like most things the pendulum swings too far one way or another. Today the idea of the state having any autonomy is given little credence. The grasp for the consolidation of power in a federal government is undeniable.

Is this good? One of the most stable and democratic countries in the world is Switzerland. It still is basically a confederation of independent cantons. It has seemingly worked well.

As we self destruct we might ponder this and look once more to our founding fathers and their idea of a country consisting of a federation of independent states.