The Awakening States

Obama will go down in history as a weak president. When the Democratic Senator from West Virginia asks his President to please lead…you know there it trouble. Not to fear, the number one rule of Political Science is proven again. In politics, there is never a vacuum. The states are rushing in to fill the void.

The concept of states’ rights is something we learned about in school not fully comprehending what it means. It was argued at the signing of the Declaration of Independence. It was enshrined in the Articles of Confederation, and compromised in the Constitution. Seventy years after the signing of the Constitution, America fought a civil war in which 600,000 Americans died to redefine the rights of the union vs. the rights of the states.

In his book entitled Lincoln and the Decision for War, Russell McClintock examines the development of two different views of the United States. In the north, the Union was sacrosanct. In the south, it was viewed as a voluntary association. How, he asks, did the north develop that sense of a non-dissolvable union…and why were northerners ready to die for it? This in light of historic compromises over the years to appease southern sensibilities and protect the institution of slavery not only vital to the southern economy, but to the northern businessmen who fed the horrible beast.

People who are fifty and older have a strong sense of union. Forged in the hardship of the great Depression and honed in the tragedy of World War II, the issue of states’ rights was not within the realm of daily discourse. As the civil rights movement rose to the surface beginning in the late 1950’s and moving forward, America wasn’t shocked when the Federal government once again sent troops into the south to enforce civil rights legislation. The trend toward centralized Federal power marched unyieldingly forward, and we accepted it.

Reagan tapped the brakes, but he didn’t come close to stopping it. More and more programs came out of Washington. More and more spending came out of Washington. More and more regulation came out of Washington. Then America was faced with ultimate conundrum. If the Federal government was so powerful, if the Federal government had all of our financial institutions regulated to the hilt, how in the midst of all of this centralized bureaucratic authority did our economy nearly self destruct in 2008? And if the government was looking out for our welfare…how is Social Security about to go broke?

Obama got elected by a fluke, and his answer was more government and the enactment of the single biggest entitlement in the history of the Republic. It is so cumbersome and so complicated, even Obama can’t comprehend its dire consequences as he and his administration continually hand “exemptions” to states and corporations to prevent it from collapsing the economy and our health care system.

So the states are turning away, and once again the role of the states is being examined by a public who has turned its back on a non-responsive, corrupt Washington. Obama is President of the United States…but nobody is listening anymore. The power has shifted to the states and the governors.

Today, John Kasich gave Ohio’s State of the State address in Columbus. Not once in my entire lifetime have I heard anyone discuss the Governor of Ohio’s State of the State of address. Not once in my lifetime have I heard anyone discuss the importance of state government and our identites as Ohioans. Not once have I heard the welfare of Ohio being pitted against other states, unless it was in football, and I don’t intend that to be a joke. All of this was heard today.

Whether you agree with Kasich or not, he certainly has raised the stakes for state government in a period where federal authority is collapsing. And it is happening in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Indiana, Illinois, California, Wisconsin…all across this great country people are looking to the states instead of the Feds for answers.

Does Romneycare work in Massachusetts? Can we set up state clinics here in Ohio to relieve the burden from hospital emergency rooms? How much of state government functions should be privatized? What is the relationship between state government and state employees? How does Ohio tax structure need to be altered to compete with Kentucky? What about redefining school districts and school consolidation to cut administrative costs?

Never did I think I would live to see the day when these types of mundane state issues be the topic of conversation at the water cooler. Never did I ever think that being an Ohioan is actually important, and we need to redefine ourselves in terms of our state.

Maybe Obama will go down in history as a great President...the one who re-awakened the concepts of statehood and states’rights. Perhaps America is too big and unwieldy for a one size fits all federal solution to our problems. The founding fathers gave us the answer. Let’s hear it for the states.