"The Joy of Federalism"

I've mentioned it here a few times (readers who have taken the time to read every post will remember that I started this humble blog by posting a letter on the subject to the editor of my local paper, the Orange County Register), and finally the bigtime columnists are picking it up. Franklin Foer penned an essay for the book review section of the NY Times, detailing the historical states-rights federalist position of the Democratic party and the long-standing internal debate on the subject between Herbert Croly and Louis Brandeis. There's also an article in Sunday's OC Register by Steve Chapman, a Chicago Tribune columnist (it's not on the Register's website, but it was run by the Tribune the Sunday before). Points are being made all over the place that now that the GOP has asserted total control over the running of the federal government, Democrats are embracing federalism and Republicans have decided - after decades of railing against centralized government intrusion and talking about abolishing the Dept. of Education and the FCC - that maybe it's not so bad that the federal government has its fingers in so many pies. It should be obvious where I stand on the issue, and it's certainly not under a banner with either of those capitalized proper nouns emblazoned on it, but rather - if need be, if I'm the only one left - in a camp of one that believes limited government and federalism is as necessary now as it was in 1789.

Update: Reason's Matt Welch gets in on it also.