Posted on 11/16/2016 7:39:24 AM PST by SeekAndFind
Before the dust had even settled on Hillary Clinton’s defeat we were already hearing rumblings from liberals about the urgent need to do away with the electoral college. That’s a given, since she won the popular vote while still taking a beating in the EC. But not everyone thinks that a “simple” shift to the popular vote model is enough of a change. Some are mulling over doing away with that whole “States” part of “The United States of America.”
When I first began reading Lawrence Samuel’s essay on this subject at the Washington Post I was almost certain that it was a bit of satire in the fine tradition of A Modest Proposal. After all, the entire history of the nation is founded on the idea of a coalition of individual states, each exercising local control under the more general umbrella of the federal government. But as it turns out, Samuel appears to be completely serious. He offers a brief tip of the hat to the founders, saying that the uniting of the original 13 colonies was, “a historic achievement.” But that was then and this is now, as the saying goes.
But times have changed, and we need to rethink the notion of the “United States of America.” Our states are no longer culturally diverse regions with their own respective identities; rather, they are artificially constructed geographic entities that certainly would not be formed today. Borderlines between states are especially nonsensical. Pensacola, Fla., is a lot more like Mobile, Ala., than Miami. Upstate New Yorkers are less than happy about being in the same tax pool as Manhattanites.
In fact, despite all the attention to divisions within the country based on geography (or race, gender, class or any other demographic measure, for that matter), Americans share a remarkably similar way of thinking and acting. (The so-called red-vs.-blue-state divide is a crude, media-driven concept that looks great on maps but has little basis in reality.) Regional differences have drastically dissipated over the course of the past 240 years, turning the once radical proposition of the “United States” into an anachronism that now has little or no real value.
Where to even begin with this mess? It’s absolutely true that that state borders are far less definitive than they were in the early days of the nation and the ability of Americans to easily migrate tends to dilute the pool quite a bit. But that doesn’t mean that Americans share a remarkably similar way of thinking and acting in geographic terms. There are still distinct flavors and cultures in different regions of the country and they do break down in many cases along state lines. If Samuel’s contention were true we wouldn’t have nearly so much variety in the laws and customs from state to state. For starters, just look at something as controversial as the death penalty. Add in marijuana legalization and rules about civil unions or gay marriage prior to the Supreme Court decision on that subject. Now tell me that the citizens of the several states don’t see things differently on key issues.
But even if we were to accept Samuel’s premise about some sort of culturally homogeneous nation, just thinking about the steps required to do away with the states should be enough to give anyone chills. A single state nation would fall entirely under the power of Washington. Every court would be a federal court. What would happen to state police forces? Would they all be federal agents?
Samuel goes on to argue that this might somehow be a cost saving measure as well.
Why does any of this matter? Quite a bit, as the problem with states goes far beyond their illogic and irrelevance. State governments are expensive to run and taxpayers are forced to foot most of the bill. We can’t afford them anymore — and we don’t need them.
Here’s a news flash. All of those state and municipal government entities actually do things. Granted, they often do too much and operate inefficiently at a minimum and corruptly in worst case scenarios, but we can say the exact same thing about Washington. If you did away with the states the federal government would have to swoop in and fill that void. And we all know what a bang up job Washington does when it comes to controlling costs and eliminating waste, fraud and abuse, right? (Insert “end sarcasm” tag here at your leisure.)
The relative independence of the states has been greatly weakened by abusive practices in the Supreme Court (such as the redefinition of the commerce clause) as well as an appetite to bestow more and more power on the presidency. But even for all of that, the states remain standing as the founders intended. (More or less) Calling for their elimination isn’t just foolish… it’s unamerican by definition. If we were to adopt Samuel’s scheme what would the new name of the country be? The United State of America?
Ha! Good luck with Texas!! :)
A unitary state is the anachronism.
Communist Czechoslovakia, during the Prague Spring, moved to create a federation out of a previously unitary state.
Belgium followed suit in the 1970s. And the UK is well along the federal road.
Liberals haven’t noticed the trend is towards greater regional autonomy across the world.
Actually rural folk have always been suspicious of their high high falutin counterparts in the big city. And city slickers have always looked down on rural folk as rubes. Well those rubes have had it and we voted Trump.
The more logical direction is to reduce the federal government by 80% and repeal the 17th amendment.
Collectivism. There’s always room for more bad ideas.
Not on my watch
MOLON LABE
Fine. Lets just do away with liberals.
IIRC when Texas joined the United States wasn’t it a sovereign nation?
Right. It wasn’t that long ago libtards wanted to give everything between Chicago and LA back to the buffalo and Indians. Now they want to turn the entire country into NYC coast, LA coast, and Chicago. Pound sand.
You mean the Texan SSR, Comrade.
Lawrence R. Samuel, Ph.D., is an American cultural historian whose books include Freud on Madison Avenue: Motivation Research and Subliminal Advertising in America, Supernatural America: A Cultural History, Sexidemic: A Cultural History of Sex In America, Shrink: A Cultural History of Psychoanalysis in America, and Death American Style: A Cultural History of Dying in America. Larry holds a Ph.D. in American Studies and was a Smithsonian Institution Fellow. Larry lives in Miami, Florida and can be reached at lsamuel19@yahoo.com.
So that we can picture the one we are discussing;
Obviously, he is a DEEP THINKER, and knows that this is the solution to solve our ills - those ills being (presumptively) the election of someone he disapproves of! Let us not get stuck on STUPID!
Not a chance in hell. The states are the cornerstone of the Constitution. It would amount to, and take, a revolution/coup to federalize this country.
The ultimate leftist wet dream.
Repeal the 17th Amendment and return representation back to the States! That should be the counter call in response to liberal craziness. Republicans own 33 Legislatures in the states that would give us a super majority in the Senate!
One word: NO!
It's impossible to say where we might be if we had allowed states to be innovative in problem solving, rather than having the federal government put it's stifling foot down, supposedly in the name of fairness or security.
But the correct answer is the opposite of the proposed idea. We should return more and more power to the states; let them come up with creative solutions for their unique problems. And understand that the people of Idaho have completely different needs than the people of Boston.
For a philosophy that supposedly embraces "diversity", the left usually comes up with the dullest, and most unimaginative ideas.
While we’re at it, let’s get rid all rules. Take Major League Baseball for instance. Here’s a hypothetical World Series situation: The Yankees scored 51 runs and won 2 games but the Phillies won 4 games with just 25 total runs. The Yankees scored twice as many runs so they should get the trophy, right? How dare those Phillies go home with the trophy and drink all that champagne? Come to think of it, Cleveland scored more runs this year so Chicago should give the trophy back.
Sarc tag is now off.
. A single state nation would fall entirely under the power of Washington.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.