I have been participating in a discussion of Mark Weiner’s book at the legal theory web site, Concurring Opinions. On this post of mine, Gordon Sollars commented,
A federal government with considerably less power than presently exists in the U.S. is not necessarily a “weak” government, opening a society to a resurgence of clans, given the existence of state and local government structures… If the only choice is between clans or governments with a direct span of control over the lives of hundreds of millions of people, the contemporary liberal project is as doomed as the libertarian one.
Indeed, there are plenty of examples of successful small states. And there are plenty of examples of successful Federal states. Canada seems less centralized than the U.S. these days, including for health care. The provinces appear to have more independence than our states do.
There are also plenty examples of successful states that do not have hundreds of millions of people. Singapore and Sweden.
Finally, there is the example of Switzerland, which is both much smaller than the U.S. in terms of population and a more Federal system of government.
In the real world, what is preventing ambitious local politicians from claiming greater independence? Why was it politically prefereable to fire school teachers because of state finances while the Federal govt was searching for “shovel-ready” stimulus programs? Why no one is campaigning for a state governor role on the platform of taxes collected in State X first going towards State X public programs, and only what’s left going up to the Federal govt?
Bennett and Lotus propose a federalist approach to tax collection. Instead of individuals paying taxes to the feds, give each state a tax quota, and let the state decide how to meet its quota.
I am sure it has been talked about and proposed in narrow circles. But why is it something that doesn’t seem to appeal to the electorate, not enough for a fringe candidates to try getting elected on? You’d think that with all public goods being provided by state and local govts it would be an easy sale. The Federal government’s involvement in individual lives is symbols (e.g. defense), while state and local are roads, police, schools, etc.