LttE - There is hope yet for federalism

Submitted Thursday 12/9/2004 to the Orange County Register and the Palm Springs Desert-Sun:

In 1964 Barry Goldwater said, "Remember that a government big enough to give you everything you want is also big enough to take away everything you have." Now that Republicans have retained the executive branch and increased its control of both houses of Congress, perhaps Democrats - who for a century have worked to centralize government power at the federal level - are finally catching on to what he meant.

There is talk among Democrats about the possibility of the two clusters of states that went for John Kerry (the Northeast and the West Coast) seceding from the United States. Many conservatives are amused at this, but for some it is reason for hope. Hope for the revival of federalism - strong states and a weak central government that has specific, and few, duties.

I for one am encouraged by the Democratic Party's re-evaluation of the states' rights position that is their nineteenth-century heritage. Perhaps, if limited-government believers can keep the GOP on task, the two parties can finally agree on something: that a return to federalism and a Constitutionally-limited national government (beholden to the states rather than their master) is a good thing for all Americans.