Is it possible to give states too much power?

[fight_for_liberty]

This was something I was just thinking about. I totally support Ron Paul and agree that a lot of issues (like abortion and homosexual marriage) should be decided by individual states.

But what I was wondering was, couldn't taking this states rights idea to its extreme have the danger of state governments becoming too powerful?

 

[tonyr1988]

Yeah. That's where we come in - it's a lot easier to change your state govt than the federal govt, and we have a responsibility to:

a) get good, liberty-loving people in our state office,
b) get a good, liberty-loving constitution written in our state,
c) etc etc etc

If they don't, we need to take legal means (the ballot box) to replace them and take care of the problem.

It's no different than the fact that we have individual rights, but some people take them to the extreme and harm other people. In that case, we use legal means (police, lawsuits, etc.) to take care of the problem.

Remember: our hierarchy of power has many many levels.

Federal
State
County / City
Household (arguably)
Individual

As you go down the list, the jurisdiction should get larger.

 

[RustyBrewster]

Also, the states would have competition for hard working tax-paying citizens. If a state had ridiculous policies you could simply pack up and move to another state.

 

[hueylong]

The pendulum is so far in favor of Federal power that we'd have to go a long way before we'd worry about states having too much power.

And ultimately -- the states are closer to the people...

 

[KevinDW78]

Also, the states would have competition for hard working tax-paying citizens.

That is EXACTLY the point. Just as we KNOW competition in the marketplace creates a BETTER market, so too competition among states would create BETTER states!

 

[losinglife]

This was something I was just thinking about. I totally support Ron Paul and agree that a lot of issues (like abortion and homosexual marriage) should be decided by individual states.

But what I was wondering was, couldn't taking this states rights idea to its extreme have the danger of state governments becoming too powerful?

no... more power the better

 

[Matt Collins]

couldn't taking this states rights idea to its extreme have the danger of state governments becoming too powerful?

I think you fail to realize that the federal government is a CREATION of the States. In other words, if the States got together tomorrow to hold another Constitutional convention, the current government would be de facto abolished.

So in the US, all of the power remains in the States, they just delegate some of that power to the federal government (and of course the fed does usurp a lot on it's own too).