Submitted by D. Advocate on Thu, 11/20/2008 - 15:25
"It is one of the happy incidents of the federal system that a single courageous state may, if its citizens choose, serve as a laboratory; and try novel social and economic experiments without risk to the rest of the country."
- United States Associate Justice Louis Brandeis
Our Founding Fathers understood one truth about political philosophy: To find common ground is sometimes impossible. When disagreement between political opponents rests on fundamental ideological principles, one side must forfeit its core beliefs in the name of unity, or suffer defeat. Consequently, to unify a young nation without engaging in an immediate civil war, the framers of the Constitution set up a system of Federalism that has since been abandoned by both political parties to America's detriment.
Federalism is the system of dividing government and political power between the States and the Federal government. This form of decentralization guaranteed by the 10th Amendment of the Constitution ensures that regardless of which ideology achieves power at the federal level, it would not be granted monopolistic tyranny over minority views.
Although Justice Brandeis' famous quote has been cited several times over the last few decades, the Republican Party, the Party that could benefit the most from its implementation, has abandoned its principles.
Since Ronald Reagan, the Republican Party has doubled down on remaking the federal government in its own image. It went from a Party that advocated local control over education and accountability, to using Jimmy Carter's Department of Education to create a "conservative" federal program called No Child Left Behind. It went from a Party that advocated individual states experimenting with social policy to creating its own national healthcare agenda. It went from a Party that wanted to keep the government off the citizens' backs to one that prevented states from individually legalizing medical marijuana and online gambling. These are just a few examples.
The greatness of Federalism is that States can freely experiment with public policy without significant political difficulty. Subsequently, if the ideas prevail, other states in the Union can mimic them. If the ideas fail, individuals can "vote with their feet" and leave. Conversely, if ideas crash at the federal level, our entire Country experiences a disaster rather than it being a localized phenomenon.
The liberty offered from Federalism is precisely why it is the only way to save the Republican Party. The bottom line is that certain ideological factions, libertarians and social conservatives for example, may argue with one another until the end of time without agreement. While they are struggling for control of a weakened Party, the Democrats will continue to prevail. This avenue is no solution to our Country's problems.
Instead of continuing down this road, the only way to unify the several factions that have traditionally voted Republican is to allow each other to have local and State control of public policy.
Not only are there political differences between libertarians and social conservatives, but also there are cultural differences between different regions of the Country.
We need to face the facts that people like David Brooks and David Frum, Washington establishment pundits, have virtually nothing in common culturally with Ted Nugent. Moreover, San Francisco has few cultural similarities to Montgomery, Alabama. This is not a moral judgment; it is just a reality that we need to accept.
The great irony is that if the Republican Party adopts Federalism as a major goal of its Party platform, it will appeal to people across the political spectrum, even some Democrats. The reason is obvious: Federalism offers the individual more control over his or her life. The only tradeoff is that one must allow someone from across the Country to have that same liberty.
Over the last few weeks, numerous pundits have argued over who is going to control the Republican Party, and what type of "rebranding" is necessary. This is never going to work. What the Republican Party needs to do is to offer all factions the opportunity to unite around the ideals of Federalism.
Lastly, it must be noted that the term, "States' Rights" has a pejorative connotation gained from the era of Jim Crow Laws. This may explain why Republicans recently have abandoned the policy for fear of being labeled a racist. Nevertheless, fear that an ignorant few could engage in an ad hominem attack is no reason to avoid educating the masses of your true laudable intentions.
In fact, those who accuse States' Rights for being code word for racism ignore how Federalism was used to protect slaves. For example, when the Federal Government passed the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, which required the return of runaway slaves to the South, the northern states passed their own "personal liberty laws" to make it extremely difficult for the oppressive federal law being enforced. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fugitive_Slave_Law_of_1850).
It should also be noted that those who charge States' Rights proponents of being racist never have an argument for why many of the northern states outlawed slavery at a time when the majority of the Country as a whole was prejudice against Blacks.
In conclusion, the Republican Party has only one option to avoid being swept into the dustbin of history. It must offer a solution to empower the masses to take control over their own lives. For the same reasons that the Founding Fathers did in the past, the Republican Party must unite around Federalism. Do not forget that unity via a decentralized government is why we are called the United States in the first place.
Copious Dissent - Your Daily Dose of Liberty