« “24 Hours on the Campaign Trail,” coming soon to a YouTube near you | Home | What do you think?… »
Freedom & Federalism
By sage of monticello | August 6, 2007
Fred Thompson “re-launched” his website today. On the front page was a video of Thompson explaining federalism, its interrelatedness to freedom, and its importance in American political life.
Federalism is an important, but often a forgotten and an even more often disregarded, political framework that the creators implemented as the ultimate way to diffuse government power - both horizontally (balance of power/checks and balances) and vertically (exclusively and jealously guarded powers assigned to certain levels of government).
It was through this governmental diffusion of power that the framers anticipated would prevent any dangerous accumulation of power in any one level and branch of government at any given time. Preventing tyranny of the majority was keen on their minds in the sumer of 1787.
Unfortunately, over the years the principle of federalism as been gradually chipped away in contradiction of the framers intentions and by supporters of a national government that so dominates the the balance of power that it delegates powers to states instead the other way around.
From an article, signed by Thompson, accompanying the video:
We developed institutions that allowed these principles to take root and flourish: a government of limited powers derived from, and assigned to, first the people, then the states, and finally the national government. A government strong enough to protect us and do its job competently, but modest and humane enough to let the people govern themselves. Centralized government is not the solution to all of our problems and – with too much power – such centralization has a way of compounding our problems. This was among the great insights of 1787, and it is just as vital in 2007.
The federalist construct of strong states and limited federal government put in place by our Founders was intended to give states the freedom to experiment and innovate. It envisions states as laboratories in competition with each other to develop ideas and programs to benefit their people, to see what works and what does not.
This ingenious means of governing a large and diverse nation prevailed for more than a century. But today our Constitution and the limited, federalist government it established, are considered by many to be quaint or out of touch with the world we live in, to be swept aside by political expediency.
Topics: Presidential Primary, Campaign 2008, Republican Presidential contenders, Fred Thompson, constitutional issues |
