[RKV]

Fred will disappoint some so-called conservatives.

Federalism is at the very core of constitutional government. Many so-called conservatives have forgotten or deliberately ignored that fact. They are hell-bent for election and willing to turn our form of government inside out in pursuit of their desired outcomes. Let's take abortion for instance. The US Constitution doesn't say a damn thing about it, and there is no way you can reasonably twist the 14th Amendment to extend personhood to a being which doesn't have citizenship and can't be counted in a census. Ditto on the ginned up Terri Schiavo "controversy." It ain't the Federal government's business to deal with these issues. And so on.

[Coldwater Creek]

NO! Fred has been one of my senator’s. There is no one that is more social or fiscal conservative than I am. Fred will disappoint!

[pissant]

BS. If the founders had known that abortion would rear its ugly head, they would have banned it. If you don’t understand that a unborn child is a human being, than you can make your weak argument.

And this notion that it’s consistent with federalism to have constitutional amendments for term limits, for balanced budgets and for disallowing the “full faith and credit” clause, but that it is against federalism for an amendment to protect the unborn is ridiculous.

[MrB]

What sucks is the short-sightedness of the conservatives - especially folks like Dobson (whom I respect as well).

Federalism and limited government WILL “impose” morality on people,

simply because the alleviation of the consequences for immoral behavior is removed from the taxpayer and put back on the individual choosing the behavior.

This is why our Constitution “worked” for so long. Moral behavior is simply rational behavior when you have to experience the consequences for immoral behavior.

[phothus]

Thanks RKV,

You’ve correctly made the case for Federalism. It is a philosophy that will require people to take more personal accountability for their local governments and local societies. Thompson has been with few exceptions remarkably consistent on this point and it is good to see that he remains consistent on Federalism despite the opportunity to pander to people who should know better.

If the federal government can dictate isses that are not in the constitution, then they can dictate all sorts of other reprehensible policies to the states.. this is essentially the problem we have today.