THE EVOLUTION OF FEDERALISM IN AMERICA TODAY
What is federalism?
What rights do we need to rediscover?
Federalism is the splitting of the ‘sovereignty atom’. Either weighted heavily toward the national/federal gov. or more towards the federation. In the government we have separation of powers. The same goes in the state level. Many people, though, don’t understand that there is another division wherein the states have separate powers from the fed. There are 86,000 governments in the U.S. when you take into account all the legislative taxing bodies and Federalism is how we link them all together. The basic ideas of federalism:
Layer cake: layers are separate and have distinct duties that never cross over
Row-boat federalism: we are all adrift and if we all pull together we can make it through together
(brought on the Great Depression)
Marble cake: everyone does what they can and it is a power grab. Each division seeks power.
(state of Illinois relies more on the Mayor of Chicago)
Picket Fence: like layer cake-separated, but recognized as departmentalized in purpose
(FBI-HIPO-SPFD/EPA-MODNR-CDC) (across federal and state sidelines RED TAPE MESS)
(how we operate now and since we have ignored historical delegation, we have MESS!)
Not are there levels, but “where do we assign those levels to remain?”
The next step?? ? there are quick fixes:
After the civil war, the radical republican congress passed a mandate that no one who had served against the United States could hold an elected office…..that cut out every one CARTE BLANCHE (like)
These people would actually serve in state office (carpet baggers) who were guaranteed landslide victories and the confederate soldiers were not allowed to serve in their states….thus, the 14th amendment was passed in those states, which gave previous slaves their citizenship, but the rest of that amendment made the rest of us citizens of the united states. After the 14th amendment, we are nationalized citizens and we were deregulated. The 15th amendment was then passed and black men were allowed to vote, and because they thought blacks would be a life-long constituency for the GOP.
The 16th amendement passed the legislation for income tax, a huge sum of money for the regulations they impose now….nothing is left for the states, so now we have to raise taxes OR depend on what the Feds leave from the taxes robbed and placed in Washington’s coffers. The state could not care for citizens, so when the Great Depression happened, no one was capable….so, enter FDR with the WPA, CCC, NAFTA, NATO…..had they left power to the states, that would have been abated. The 17th amendment allowed for senators to then be elected but not for state power, which fundamentally altered congressional representation…..now there was no separation of people-care vs. state care. The treaties, approval, appointment to offices, etc were supposed to have been kept separated and now we end up with huge pork-barrel lobbying because we also have a cyclical appointment to the senate of overly wealthy delegates with no vested interest in the citizens. Get rid of the 16th amendment and get the Fair tax and then get rid of the 17th amendment.
Q: is there no law that says it is not okay to take money out of citizens’ pockets?
A: there are arguments that the 16th was never properly ratified and there are people who do not pay their income taxes….but if you do not pay your income taxes……yikes! V: we have had members of the IRS and two convicted felons on the program who stated/related that it is a losing case and it is always best to give in to the tax mandates by government……push for FairTax….POWERS: WHERE ARE THEY AND WHERE SHOULD THEY BE?
It sounds to me like another part of federalism is that it is deciding what things the states have control over..the agendas, etc, and what we want to make a nation-wide rule: marriage rights, We can limit government by Federalism. It is not a question of how much power we want to give the states, but how much power we want to grant the national government. The tenth amendment states that those things which are not guaranteed to the states and retained to the nation….are retained by the states. So, we should get involved in state-level government. In regard to power to the states, you give power to those delegates to be fools in their own states. We can be what we want to be if we retain or seize those powers.
The only rights that we will have are those we will fight for and die for. The difference in power between state and national government is that: (opinion) had the state had more resources, bigger weapons in war, the nation would follow. When we are willing to set ourselves up as barricades, then ‘they’ will take us seriously and recognize our stand…we will not abide by the principals that are unconstitutional. The repercussions are that we have to understand certain things, but at what point can we go to the state government? When push comes to shove, we have our local constituents and who will stand up, be willing to fight and take no amount of surrender?
Federalism is not a model…it is an expression of the models. It is like Chinese Fingertraps. As long as you are in the trap, you are okay, but if you try to get out, you will get trapped. When the slave states tried to get out of the Civil War, the feds kept clamping down. The issue was never solved, but the North won and the issue was never settled…..in American Jurisprudence, there are many issues that have never been settled/solved. States rights were never really voted on since 150 years ago…when we don’t make determinations for ourselves, the issues grow, become malignant and never are settled. The underlying issues are never addressed for our bandaging the big picture.
On iTunes, www.americanaphonic.com is a GREAT asset! You can download founding documents being read aloud….if you listen to 1-2 a day, and if you read the Federalist Papers, read the Anti-federalist papers as well…it’s useful to read them simultaneously (check out Avalon, Yale to listen to these docs!!!)
Until people started to feel pain, they did not too completely believe. One thing: Katrina, Bobby Jindall: if he were governor, would it have been better than the then-governor. Jindall is a true leader. We the people---are the answer. When we discuss Federalism, we truly discuss Personal Accountability (belief, attributes, be rid of cynicism) We need healthy Federalism, Personal Accountability, Empowerment.
America started as 13 separate countries, and so we tried a Confederation in order to provide that more perfect union. States internationally (like the EU) are countries separately. The north won the civil war because they had bigger guns, not because they were right. We have to work within the system to change is. So, we can’t dumb down the message, our platform, but we have to simplify and make it easy to regurgitate.
Another issue that hurts Federalism and State Issues is that there is no state MO Guard. In instances like this, if it did come to a battle, and you had powerless states, what would be the case? Is an American going to pick up a gun and fire at another American? Also, would military insurgents fire against rebellious citizens? We used to have the Missouri State Guard, but now it is the National Guard…..an irrelevant issue now….what are we doing to win the hearts of Americans and getting them to realize power? What about delineation of powers, the 16th and 17th amendments?
If we worked on getting a limit set on special interest group and lobbyists, wouldn’t that start to drain the power from the federal government and make people start to listen to their real constituents, voting bodies and the voices that matter. The same law that shuts down lobbyists, though, shuts down the NRA, pro-life movements…..
Anytime we ask the government to save us from ourselves, we ask suicide. We need to recognize that it is our job to shoot those ideas down. Since Watergate, we have been altering those ideas. We have McCain-Feingold, pacts, etc….and we can’t bottle up Free Speech effectively. What we have to do is fix the PROBLEM but not the SYMPTOMS. Federalism is a national issue, and we want to be effectively local. We have to figure out where we are going, and yes, there is a great start in local government. Conservativism has been diluted down for so long. Get off the milk and get on the meat. Because all we have been getting is diluted Conservativism, we are not sure what it really is anymore. Sometimes, we are confused and inconsistent. We may realize that we are wrong, and have to retract our words. It is not natural because of the forces of media, lack of pure Conservativism, we have been like starving vegetarians----WHERE IS THE MEAT?
WE have to get the destination clear but move from the ground up
The models of Federalism described earlier are not really able to be put together, because if you have a democracy, you have to have a division somewhere. So, should Federalism be a backbone, or a rosy face? It is the engine that drives us, but will take the face of the issues we talk about.
Federalism is not the only face, but the face that most closely comes to mind is that of the Fair Tax…it essentially defines Federalism, delineates powers and is not the end-all-be-all but we would have to repeal the 16th, and then we might as well repeal the 17th….so it would be easier to make the case to get rid of Constitutional Amendments instead of thinking it impossible.
How does the Supremacy clause supersede state law? The Constitution is the supreme law of the land. Laws that are passed can supersede national laws, but not all the time, so Congress can formulate that it cannot be done on a national level. Then, the senate was a representative of the states and the states had power on what controlled them.
We all remember School House Rock (how a bill becomes a law)There is a reason why the house of reps is limited to 2 years, and only allowed certain time to speak. Individual reps have almost no power. You can be goofy, but are a voice (1) out of 435. A senator, on the other hand, with filibusters can wreak havoc with 6 years, unlimited speech, non-germane laws, and almost unregulated by the constituency. They are professional legislators to represent the states…17th amendment made the senate the house plus, and that is when this country started spending money like drunken sailors. They became one unit of spending money to get along.
By reinstituting or repealing those amendments, we get rid of biases toward limited government and limitations. The Bill of Rights is all about limiting the power of the national government and telling them what they can’t do. Why not take this issue of Federalism and mesh it with the language of EMPOWERMENT?! Use it as a tool and carry it on the winds of Empowerment. For example: if we want to repeal the 16th and 17th amendment, and to make the Fair Tax more relevant, we can dictate how our money is spent. We get to determine how and where our tax dollars are utilized. When we grab that concept, through the Fair Tax, we get to see where it is spent, but also to say that we’d like to have a small portion of our funds paid returned to us. “16th Amendment-Just Say No!”
Closing comment: telling people what we are about can make people glaze over. We the people, as any terminology that sounds political, constitutional, or tyrannical will keep all young people at bay. They want to be inspired. They don’t want the power or the responsibility, and they need to change that, somehow, some way. The other hurdle is the concept that we want to government to take care of us.
Closing comment: telling people what we are about can make people glaze over. We the people, as any terminology that sounds political, constitutional, or tyrannical will keep all young people at bay. They want to be inspired. They don’t want the power or the responsibility, and they need to change that, somehow, some way. The other hurdle is the concept that we want to government to take care of us.
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