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Memories of the 28th Century

Federal Republic

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It has become popular for politicians at the federal level to ignore the Constitutional limits of power of the federal government. The federal government has taken to itself power of nearly all governmental functions, even though many were not granted to it in the Constitution. And they ignore the Tenth Amendment: “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.” Which makes it perfectly clear that powers not delegated to the federal government belong to the States or the people.

For matters over which the federal exercise tyrannical powers one need only look at the cabinet departments, where one see Education, Health and Human Services, Housing and Urban Development, Labor, and none of these is among the enumerated powers of the federal government, while the others are parts of powers over which the feds have power. If it weren’t for money that the feds waste on these matters that are not their concerns and the amazing amount of money that the Department of War (Defense) spends, then the States could easily provided for the needs of their citizens, as they see fit.

I do not understand their reasoning, but there are some people who actually want the federal government to have all power and for the States to simply carry out what the central government orders. If people want better government, then that would not help, because some states do a much better job than the federal government does. One of the reasons for not doing that at the beginning was that the States had cultures that varied, and that didn’t simply refer to slave states. Even Rhode Island and Connecticut are different. Some of the cultural differences are huge. Consider Montana and New York as one example. The laws that will work in one State might lead to rebellion in another.

I believe that it is desirable for all citizens to have equal rights, but the ways that taxes and regulations are handled vary from place to place. The essence of the U.S.A. Is to local flavor, but the common beliefs and ideals are very important as well. Appreciation for the rights and respect for the opinions of others is central to what is now called Classical Liberalism.

Classical Liberalism is the philosophy that was common to the founders of the U.S.A. In recent decades people who call themselves liberal have distanced themselves from Classical Liberalism, but most Americans, and perhaps most humans, think highly of Classical Liberalism, because it encourages people to believe what they think is right, and to allow others to do the same. The comment: I do not agree with what he says, but I will defend to my death his right to say it” is the heart of Classical Liberalism.

The founders of the U.S.A. set things up as they did, because they wanted people to be able to live as they wished, and having the States as separate, independent entities made it easier for that to happen. If the States were eliminated and the country became a single governmental entity, then local variations would end. Local customs were different in 1787, and they still are. People eat different foods in different areas, and they have different hobbies and pastimes, etc.

The U.S.A. Is a collection of countries that share a football league, parts of a language, and a federal government. That suggests that the U.S.A. Is somewhat more united than the European Union but only because their local languages separated a few thousand years earlier. Both federations have disagreements about how to do things, and some members of the alliances want to leave, and the UK did leave the EU; although the last time members tried to leave the U.S.A., they were dragged back by force. I think that separation would be a greater problem, if the local and regional differences were not respected.

The ideal of having a perfect state for everyone is lovely, but people have valid disagreements about the perfect state, so why should anyone try to cram any particular definition down anyone's throat. Why can't we just let different local cultures be as they would like? Europe has survived for a long time with that attitude, and maybe the U.S.A. Will also.


But the Postal Service should be brought back into the government as the Department of Communications, and it should coordinate long distance communications of various sorts, not just mail but internet and related media..

And some people do want to make everyone think as they do, but I try to pretend that such people are just kidding. No One wants everyone to agree? Seriously?

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