Way too many Americans have the opposite view of government and laws. We tend to look past local and state governments and expect problems to get addressed inside the Beltway. Besides local potholes and school taxes, no problem seems too small (local) for Congress. This attitude reduces our opportunity to vote with our feet and wallet, leaving us with only one lonely ballot and a set of crossed fingers every two years.
We are simply less free when every political issue becomes federalized: we can no longer move elsewhere to escape the (over)reach of bad laws. If, for example, enough people in Maine want single payer state-run health care, they can have it at the state level. People can leave and people can move there. Businesses will come and go. An economic force is created, equal and opposite forces will react within the state of Maine. But once the same titans of finance that brought us Social Security, Medicare, and the Post Office grasp control of health care, where can we move?
Likewise, federal bailouts of profligate state legislatures punish individuals who live in fiscally responsible states by confiscating their property and transferring said property to irresponsible states. What's the point in living in Texas if you are going to be taxed twice, once for your own state budget and a second time for California's? And what's the incentive for California legislatures to get things right?
The Tea Party certainly does it part to encourage Congress to step back into its constitutional role. Expecting government to control itself from the inside, however, has its obvious limits, no matter how many Tea Party candidates breech the Beltway mote. Like any good reform, change has to begin with the public opinion of us benighted proles. This process begins by no longer expecting Congress to tackle every single issue, then encouraging fellow proles to see the light. With enough public opinion and time, the holier-than-thous in D.C. will play along.
I hope you voted today. You vote every day many times a day just by existing in a market economy. If you enjoy the options that allow you such a high and affordable standard of living, expect similar options politically. Our political standard of living really should not be any lower than economic one.
