Buccaneer
08-30-2003, 09:36 AM
Senator asked about my anti-federal govt stance, in that most solutions cannot come from the federal govt. I strong believe that the majority of our (income) taxes should go to the local govt, then to the state and the smallest portion to the feds. That is why I will not vote for any politicians that looks to expanding the role of non-military federal programs or those voting against reducing federal programs. Coincidentally, in our local paper today, there was the editorial the sums up my beliefs very well.
Another major fedache
There are many sound reasons, reasons both of principle and practicality, for opposing the relentless push behind the federalizing of everything. The Constitution specifically says that only certain enumerated powers are delegated to the federal government, with all others reserved to the states and the people, reflecting the founders’ distrust of a concentrated, centralized power. They not only recognized that vesting too much power in the federal government was an invitation to abuse and tyranny, but that such a division of powers also makes practical sense.
Governments closer to the people tend, in general, to be more responsive and accountable to the people. And the imposition by Washington of one-size-fits-all policies often ignores important differences between regions and states, robbing them of the opportunity to address their own needs and challenges as they see fit, and imposes disproportionate burdens on some for the benefit of others, by those with their fingers on the federal purse strings.
But such arguments strike some as abstract, so let’s bring the matter down to specifics, using a local example of federal meddling to illustrate the absurdities. Even as El Paso County scrambles to trim $6 million from its 2004 budget, asking that overhead by reduced and government services be cut back, the cost of holding an election in the county is jumping by a third, to $1.3 million, in response to federal mandates imposed after the presidential election debacle in Florida nearly three years ago.
Because a few counties in Florida couldn’t get their electoral act together, and a few thousand Floridians couldn’t think their way through the balloting process, we in El Paso County must now waste our own precious money responding to federal demands that we take extra steps to verify signatures on absentee ballots and hire election judges to handle provisional ballots.
We haven’t had a problem with such things in El Paso County, but no matter. "Some people didn’t know how to vote in Florida, and it’s cost everybody else a lot of money," said Chuck Brown, chairman of the El Paso County commission, expressing a dismay that we share.
Why should we pay for the screw-ups of Palm Beach County, Florida? And why is our ability to balance county books being undermined by Washington? Putting the answer bluntly: Because the feds say we should. As it’s prone to do when we let it, Washington exploited the controversy surrounding the election debacle in Florida to impose a one-size-fits-all solution for a problem that doesn’t seem to exist in much of the rest of the land, including here in El Paso County.
And they do it because they can do it — because too few Americans rise in opposition to the relentless expansion of federal power, in matters large and small. Many even invite it, reflexively turning to the federal government for everything they’ve forgotten they ought to do for themselves.
We can blame such costs and meddling on "those people" in Washington who justify their existence by hyping every problem out of proportion, then overreacting to it, as they did in the case of Florida election foul-ups.
But they also share the blame who turn first to Washington for the solution to every problem, and don’t turn their backs when the men in blue suits show up in town speaking the eight most dangerous words in the American lexicon: "We’re from Washington, and we’d like to help."
Copyright 2003, The Gazette, a division of Freedom Colorado Information. All rights reserved.
Another major fedache
There are many sound reasons, reasons both of principle and practicality, for opposing the relentless push behind the federalizing of everything. The Constitution specifically says that only certain enumerated powers are delegated to the federal government, with all others reserved to the states and the people, reflecting the founders’ distrust of a concentrated, centralized power. They not only recognized that vesting too much power in the federal government was an invitation to abuse and tyranny, but that such a division of powers also makes practical sense.
Governments closer to the people tend, in general, to be more responsive and accountable to the people. And the imposition by Washington of one-size-fits-all policies often ignores important differences between regions and states, robbing them of the opportunity to address their own needs and challenges as they see fit, and imposes disproportionate burdens on some for the benefit of others, by those with their fingers on the federal purse strings.
But such arguments strike some as abstract, so let’s bring the matter down to specifics, using a local example of federal meddling to illustrate the absurdities. Even as El Paso County scrambles to trim $6 million from its 2004 budget, asking that overhead by reduced and government services be cut back, the cost of holding an election in the county is jumping by a third, to $1.3 million, in response to federal mandates imposed after the presidential election debacle in Florida nearly three years ago.
Because a few counties in Florida couldn’t get their electoral act together, and a few thousand Floridians couldn’t think their way through the balloting process, we in El Paso County must now waste our own precious money responding to federal demands that we take extra steps to verify signatures on absentee ballots and hire election judges to handle provisional ballots.
We haven’t had a problem with such things in El Paso County, but no matter. "Some people didn’t know how to vote in Florida, and it’s cost everybody else a lot of money," said Chuck Brown, chairman of the El Paso County commission, expressing a dismay that we share.
Why should we pay for the screw-ups of Palm Beach County, Florida? And why is our ability to balance county books being undermined by Washington? Putting the answer bluntly: Because the feds say we should. As it’s prone to do when we let it, Washington exploited the controversy surrounding the election debacle in Florida to impose a one-size-fits-all solution for a problem that doesn’t seem to exist in much of the rest of the land, including here in El Paso County.
And they do it because they can do it — because too few Americans rise in opposition to the relentless expansion of federal power, in matters large and small. Many even invite it, reflexively turning to the federal government for everything they’ve forgotten they ought to do for themselves.
We can blame such costs and meddling on "those people" in Washington who justify their existence by hyping every problem out of proportion, then overreacting to it, as they did in the case of Florida election foul-ups.
But they also share the blame who turn first to Washington for the solution to every problem, and don’t turn their backs when the men in blue suits show up in town speaking the eight most dangerous words in the American lexicon: "We’re from Washington, and we’d like to help."
Copyright 2003, The Gazette, a division of Freedom Colorado Information. All rights reserved.