Texas Tenth Amendment Center
All the pundits are blasting Obama for his comments this week declaring similarities between the momentum that brought him the Presidency and the momentum that brought Scott Brown to the Senate.
Obama said: “Here’s my assessment of not just the vote in Massachusetts but the mood around the country: The same thing that swept Scott Brown into office swept me into office, people are angry and they are frustrated. Not just because of what’s happened in the last year or two years but what’s happened over the last eight years.”
Well, for once, I agree with the President. He may not know it, but for now he’s on to something. The similarities are significant, but not for the reasons Obama would have you believe. Obama is implicitly declaring that the “thing” that swept them into office was a massive mandate to centralize power at the federal level, or in Brown’s case public dissatisfaction with the rate at with Obama was able to centralize power. This could not be further from the truth. In fact, the “thing” that swept both into office was absolute disgust with Washington DC.
The centralization of power is the problem.
Both elections prove it. Obama won the election because he was “not Bush”. Brown won the election because he was “not Obama”. Both won the election because they were not “Washington DC”. Well, now they are both Washington DC, so who will the people send next to solve the problems sure to be endorsed by these champions. In other words, the game continues until “we the people” tell Washington to take a hike, we can solve our problems locally.
This battle is not about Republicans versus Democrats. It’s not even about left ideology versus right ideology. The battle is much more serious. It is about “we the people” versus an out of control federal government. Or more to the point, decentralized power versus centralized power.
The problem is that “we the people” do not recognize that this is the problem. “We the people” are still divided, fighting the same old partisan battles, and to the federal government’s pleasure, centralizing more and more power in their hands.
The left and right are both centralizing power.
For starters, the right has spent a year now “angry and frustrated” as Obama puts it. Tea Parties have marched on the Alamo, marched on Washington DC, conquered town hall meetings, written letters to US Representatives, and spent countless hours talking to answering machines a thousand miles away. All with the purpose of affecting opinions in Washington DC. And for a year now, they have been ignored and often ridiculed by their “rulers”. And what is their strategy now? To centralize more right-leaning power in Washington DC in the 2010 elections.
The result of the right’s effort is more power in DC.
The left is angry and frustrated too. This week Arianna Huffington from the Huffington Post wrote:
“What we need is Hope 2.0: the realization that our system is too broken to be fixed by politicians, however well intentioned — that change is going to have to come from outside Washington.“
It is encouraging that the left is beginning to realize that answers don’t come from Washington DC. However, the rest of the article goes on to describe a strategy to march on Washington DC and demand attention to their concerns. The purpose is to embolden the current left-leaning politicians to centralize power in Washington DC.
The result of the left’s effort is more power in DC.
Centralization – The “one size fits all ” solution.
So, since the left and the right think that all the power needs to come from DC, it’s time to ask:
Which “one size fits all” solution to Heath Care, Environment Policy, Drug Policy, Marriage Definition, Education Curriculum, Firearm Regulation, should be enforced as a blanket solution for the entire United States?
I’m sure you have your answer. I’m also sure that about 50% of the population disagrees with your answer.
Texas doesn’t want a Massachusetts solution. Texas can solve its own problems. Likewise, I’m sure the people of California don’t want a Texas solution to their problems. This attempt to solve all problems at the federal level is the fundamental source of the “anger and frustration” that Obama is talking about. It is the friction that causes the nasty bipartisanship in Washington DC that people complain about. Most importantly, if we do not open up the pressure valve and allow individuals and local governments to decide what is best for them, then it will be the fundamental source of the destruction of our country.
Decentralization – The 10th Amendment Solution.
The answer to our country’s current problems is written in the Bill of Rights. The federal government was never intended to create uniform policy for any of these issues. At least, not without a constitutional amendment. The 10th amendment states:
“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.”
This is simple and brilliant. Given the wide diversity of desired solutions across the United States, these problems can only be solved by decentralization of power, not centralization in Washington. Respecting the limitations of the Constitution and understanding the 10th amendment are the answers to this country’s problems.
Massachusetts might want a public health care program. Great, implement a state level solution to the problem. If it works, it’s sure to be copied by other states. If it fails, then Massachusetts must go back to the drawing board. Texas, on the 0ther hand, might want to limit medical malpractice awards and cut costs as a solution. Great, if that doesn’t work we are free to copy another state’s successful program. If individuals in a state don’t like the current law because it limits their freedom or services, they are free to vote with their feet and seek a state with a solution that fits them. There are pressure release valves naturally built into a decentralized solution.
Decentralize.
Solve problems locally.
Bring it home.
Brian Roberts is a long-time volunteer with the Texas TAC and a regular contributor to the Tenth Amendment Center website.
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Brian, I am not going to get into name calling like some of the other commenters did. What states-rightists and advocates for a strict application of the 10th amendment do not recognize is that it is IMPOSSIBLE to address globalized issues effectively by each state, and sometimes, even by each country. When communication, trade, and pollution are all things that have immediate affects on every person on the earth, saying that Texans should stick to Texans is simply ignorant of times and culture in which we live in–for that matter, quite frankly there is not that much of a substantive difference between somebody from Oregon, Virginia, Kansas or New York. Sure, there are cultural, political, and ideological differentiations, but we live in a deeply more homogenized nation than ever before. There really isn't a "Texan" solution as compared to another state.
Additionally, if you look at any issue from ozone depletion to global climate change to acid rain, it is immediately clear that you cannot have a state based solution. New Yorkers, or for that matter even Canadian's, are entitled to expect that Ohio's coal plants do not produce acid rain that damages their agriculture, buildings, and environment. Whether you are a Kansan or Sudanese, the warming of the earth is going to make both areas drier and less habitable. A federal body is much more effective at addressing this than having different rules for each state.
Whether we are talking about the internet, highways, or healthcare the federal government has the ABILITY (though they do not always execute it well) to create efficacious regulations and entities that combat the issue of externalized costs, which is one of the greatest market failures of an unregulated free market. It's great to support the founding fathers, but you have to bear in mind that in the localized republic they founded, externalized costs fundamentally were not possible (perhaps with the exception of hunting species to extinction, and over harvesting of some natural resources like timber); back then giving states control over most issues allowed advantageous localized control. Nowadays, doing the same thing actually puts individuals at a disadvantage, and makes for a less productive America.
Are you even FROM this planet? Centralization is more efficient and effective? Okay, so just tell me exactly which FEDERAL level program is working out so efficiently and effectively. Department of Education? DHS? TSA? Department of Agriculture? Federal Income Tax? Well, I could go on and list every single federal agency, right down to the Post Office, but the story is the same on every single front: INefficiency and INeffectiveness. Get real, bro.
This ISN'T a right – left thing. Don't be THAT fooled! Obama is continuing the same policies as Bush and YOU think that is alright. OPEN YOUR EYES! These policies are bad for all of us no matter who they come from. Did Obama stop renditions? Did he pull us out of IRAQ, Is he pulling out of Afghanistan? How about all the promises he made in the campaign? THINK! Don't think Republican Don't think Democrat, JUST THINK
I can't believe what I'm hearing in the first couple of comments! Are you guys even from Texas!? I dislike the GOP and the Democrats simply because both parties have been infiltrated by statists. All other politics aside, that is a feature both major parties now share – the author is completely correct.
Let's start if off with Franklin – Dude are you just looking for a forum to vent? Go to Craigslist for that stuff. Also – there are 3 components to the Federal level of our government. Count 'em. But seriously – I mean you obviously didn't look at the author's intent here at all. You appear to have just started foaming at the mouth. Here's 2 easy steps to keep from embarrassing yourself again – Read the article, Comment on the ARTICLE.
Now on to Jonathan – Thank God you at least followed the 2 step principle. You're right – centralizing is more efficient and effective for a managed economy & government system, like China's. Of course, only 1 solution to a problem can be tried at a time, minimizing innovation & maximizing misery while said solution is found. You see less responsive government, and you also maximize the potential for corruption. You only need to buy one person's approval as opposed to that of the many people responsible in a distributed system. Distributed systems tend to maximize innovation, which is why our government system is set up that way it is, with 3 major levels. Distributed systems also require the most liberty for all participants, ensuring you don't wake up in a totalitarian dictatorship one day because the one decision-maker at the top decided he didn't want to leave office. At the end of the day, working towards a decentralized government encourages an "all of us together" approach to government, as opposed to the "Us vs. Them" mentality currently dominating the federal level of our government. I think we'd all like to see more of that.
Boo! Decentralization wastes money on replication of government processes and will cause huge disparities in the actions of individual regions. Centralization is more efficient and more effective. Plus it is easier to create larger change with just one win of an election. All federal entities end up centralizing authority, like the EU, the UN, and the US. Plus no one I know is complaining about the centralization of power. When was the last time you heard your Mom or Dad going, "The government is taking away the authority of my state to tax me at a different rate than that other state!" Never. Because it isn't happening. There is already a great amount of wiggle room for individual states, just look at medical marijuana. But there are occasions where a policy has proved a great solution for one state and it would be great to just make it a nation-wide policy or where the nation as a whole needs reforms that affect the overall profitability and effectiveness of the nation. You just randomly claimed something and said, "That is the reason Obama is wrong." That is not why Scott Brown got elected and that is not what will win you the next election, but you can run with that if you would like.
I understand that you right-wingers are upset that you were recently run out of town by the largest national voter turnout in history and by the biggest margins in a few decades, but you just gotta suck it up. You had your chance. For eight years you controlled all four branches of government, and it turned out to be the worst 8 years in living memory for the U.S. You guys really screwed the pooch on just about every issue: a tragic and botched invasion of a third-world country, a massive terrorist attack that we KNEW was coming and failed to stop, massive corporate scandals and corruption by buddies of the administration, unprecedented curtailing of civil rights by the Federal government (where was your outrage at Big Brother when Cheney was in charge?), even a conservative Supreme Court that ruled against private property in immanent domain cases, too much more to list here, and ending off in the last few days with the utter collapse of of our economy due too lax regulation SO SEVERE that even W. was forced to nationalize major banks. You guys had Marx giggling in his grave!
You could hardly have trashed the country any more than you did. And, controlling all branches of government as you did, you can't blame the Democrats for ANY of it. It was ALL YOU. So the reason the Democrats handed you your hat was because the GOP had utterly, completely and spectacularly failed. That election was a solid mandate against right-wing politics. So I understand how that could sting a bit. But you deserved it. You had your chance. You blew it BIG TIME. The only thing you could do worse would be to try to stop Obama from fixing your mess. And if you really wanted to be serious douche-bags about it, you could make up lies like death panels and put up pundits like Beck to warn the nation that Obama is "leading you all to slaughter" like Mao and Stalin. I'm not making this up, he really said that. That's the level your party is operating on these days.
No, you guys have zero credibility anymore. That's why only 24% of the population calls itself Republicans now. And you think all this hyperventilating obstructionism is going to work for you? Look how well it worked for Gingrich in the 90's when you shut down the government rather than pass a Democratic budget. I seem to remember Clinton got his second term easily and went on to be a very popular and successful two-termer thanks very much. Peace, a booming economy and gee, a huge budget surplus to boot. Kind of the exact opposite of what the GOP left us with after W, isn't it?
All I'm saying is that you had your chance to lead the nation, and you drove us into a ditch. What you should be doing now is helping to push us out, or at least get out of the way. If you want to be an honest opposition party, thats fine, but you guys are going seriously overboard with all this tea-party pant-loading Obama is Hitler and he wants to destroy the country balderdash. If you want to be the party of the whacked out Glenn Beck Right, you're doing fine, but if you want the center to ever take you seriously again, you better straighten up and start helping out. Obama deserves to have his policies put in place, we voted him in fair and square. To have you on the right try to trip him up with all this death-panel big brother hogwash is not only dishonest and unworthy of the boyscouts you claim to be, but it is immoral and undignified too.
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