Should the US stay a federation?

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Debate & Discussion > Should the US stay a federation?

Nostalgia4Infinity: Feb 27, 2007; 10,000 YEARS WASN'T ENOUGH LURKING

Locke Dunnegan posted:

At the ripe old age of 27, I have become a bit disillusioned with the American political system.

Fuckin

# ¿ Apr 15, 2015 01:35

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# ¿ May 12, 2024 05:39

Nostalgia4Infinity: Feb 27, 2007; 10,000 YEARS WASN'T ENOUGH LURKING

RaySmuckles posted:

OP, I think States work as excellent laboratories of democracy. You can experiment and tweak a little here and there to see if a policy will be successful, and if it is it can be adopted at the national level. At the turn of the last century states like New York were very progressive and would help lift less progressive states like Pennsylvania or Kentucky up their level with worker safety and food and drug protections by getting their progressive policies adapted at the national level. This is also like Massachusetts and its Health Care law and the ACA.

However, this only works within the greater framework of the federal system, because when a state goes the opposite direction and say bans poor people from voting by issuing a poll tax, there needs to be an indomitable power to check them and enforce human rights. Really, one of the failings of the modern progressive movement is their failure to gain power and institute policy on the local and state level to prove their ideas on a smaller scale and then adapt them to a national scale. There are, of course, a multitude of reasons for this (gerrymandering/money politics).

So should states have more freedom to experiment with different policies? Maybe, but there needs to be a fed so when a state crosses a line, their power can be checked.

This is a good post and a nuanced opinion.

# ¿ Apr 23, 2015 00:06

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Debate & Discussion > Should the US stay a federation?