Column: Give power back to the states
Published April 23, 2010
If you read my column regularly, you probably already know what I'm going to want to change in our government. I'd make the federal government smaller and create more powerful state legislatures.
Because state governments are smaller than the federal government, citizens will have more direct representation. This would place the power of the federal government in states' hands so they would be able to govern their states as they see fit.
Different states hold different values and are affected by federal legislation in different ways. The values of those in rural Missouri differ from those in San Francisco.
Energy laws affect the work force of Alaska more than northeastern states. Ethnic and religious groups tend to congregate in different parts of the country and hold different values.
It's OK states are affected differently by different issues, but they should not be governed by the same federal legislature.
Although Americans want there to be a separation between church and state, religious affiliation influences the way one votes. Bible Belt states, such as Missouri, look at moral issues like same-sex marriage differently than other states.
More conservative states would probably outlaw abortions and liberal ones could keep it legal. Having a diversity of beliefs in each state allows people to surround themselves with similar views.
For you to believe the Republican or Democratic Party fully represent the majority of America's values is foolish.
Unfortunately, because of the size of federal elections in this country, Independents have a hard time getting elected.
There are no Independents in the House of Representatives and only two in the Senate. Citizens are then forced to vote either Republican or Democrat; however, on a state level it becomes much easier for an Independent to connect with citizens and get elected.
People's view of voting for an Independent will shift from not believing they can get elected to knowing every vote counts. More of Americans' values would be represented if we had more Independents in power.
Citizens will see a dramatic change in the way legislators interact with constituents. State representatives serve a small community, which makes it easy to hold your legislators accountable.
Lawmakers will in turn be more receptive to their constituents because they know one person has the power to influence hundreds of votes. On the federal level, a couple hundred votes would not matter, but when you are talking about a district of 20,000 people, that is a big deal.
A stronger state government will change the way citizens interact with their legislators.
This kind of government is a better representation of the people and redistributes power back to the people. By downsizing our federal government, it becomes easier to hold legislators accountable for their actions. This system promotes more diverse state legislature that has the power to custom cater state policies.
Clay Carter is a sophomore finance major and can be reached at ccp6c@mail.missouri.edu
Comments (3)
3:08 p.m., April 23, 2010
Nate said:
There are 163 seats in the MO House which represent about 35,000 people each. All are held by either a Democrat of Republican. Independents or third party candidates can't get elected to even the smallest districts because they are "SMDP" - single member district plurality - which means the highest vote getter wins. That discourages considering more than two choices win making a decision on who to vote for on the state or federal level.
9:03 a.m., April 26, 2010
Sean said:
Also, many of the closest races in the MO House are in the primaries, not the general elections. So, you have democrats trying to out-liberal each other and republicans trying to out-conservative each other. This pushes many of the candidates further from the center, not closer to it. As Nate said, it's nearly impossible for an independent to get elected in MO. It would help to have at least a basic knowledge of state politics before making sweeping generalizations like, "On a state level it becomes much easier for an Independent."
1:18 a.m., April 23, 2010
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