The issue with relegating such things to the states is that you get radically different laws across arbitrary borders. You can have a store selling assault weapons four miles from a city where they are "banned".

Federal law supersedes state law, we fought a war about that once if you recall. That's the way it must be, or one state/group of states can make itself so incredibly different from the others that it behaves as its own social and economic entity and acting as a funnel for things that are considered illegal in the other 49.

Major social issues must be a nationwide consensus, you cannot have a nation where some states allow slavery and others do not.

Do not assume the founding fathers were flawless luminaries simply because they were in the right place at the right time in the right social position. Their plan for government was revolutionary, but it was not perfect.

*** Note *** All you poor souls (other than maybe Slyth HEE!) feel free to tl;dr ********

I used to think the same way, but having spent a couple evenings chatting with Greenspan a few years back started me reading and thinking somewhat differently. Often the federal government has little or no understanding of state's issues and while I have no problem with the federal government legislating human rights and safety, military and economic issues that are interstate issues, there are some intrastate issues that properly belong at the state level.

If the question is one that affects the members of the United States as a group -- for instance human rights, crimes against humanity, immigration, and places where the nation interfaces with other nations, then those need to be decided on the federal level and should supersede the state.

On questions of the immediate and local welfare of citizens, say local police forces, fire departments, utilities and other services, those more properly belong to the area being served. For instance it would be absurd for me to pay municipal taxes on a level with say NV, since my state has neither an attraction like Las Vegas, nor does it have the isolated rural desert population whose need for water and electricity is more expensive than mine, whose phone service is best served through microwave relay (until very recently) and whose population is of a very different age and family demographic.

We do still have the ability to change residence, and I've opted to live mostly where I pay more for rural utility services and road maintenance, but have the freedom to be relatively self-determinant. If I want to spend the afternoon shooting my rifle, there is no one endangered and I can enjoy myself.

The state is not my "keeper", nor indeed is the federal government, or the county. But in matters of assistance I do believe my county board of supervisors has a better handle on what services are needed and how they should be apportioned than a federal committee working off sets of google maps and demographics charts, with input from pacs.

No, we have not found the "ideal" for either checks and balances or the apportionment of rights and regulations, but there founding fathers DID start us with a MALLEABLE document that sets forth base principles and then gives the latitude and responsibility to the citizen representatives to adjust for needs of the future.

That we are all citizens of worth, but we don't all have the same needs, is allowed for in the way our government is built. I think this is wholly correct and will support it. Even if it occassionally leads to petty and gross failures.

Mislegislation for all citizens at the federal level has the potential for much more wideswept damage, and should be used only for appropriate issues that truly do affect us all equally.

*shrug* I'm not talking Ayn Rand and her straw men in a world of shining supermen, women longing to be dominated by them and a clueless mass of humanity that really doesn't deserve to live.

I think, despite my intellect and talents I'd be very unhappy in such a rarified and callous space.

. . . random comment approaching . . .

I am in agreement with ashkelon's post above. It is most wise.

. . . In my opinion of course . . .

ashkelon wrote:Dunno, was my Broken Arrow cousins who stole a beer delivery truck from behind a convenience store, drove it off a bridge and jumped out to stand watching it sink even after the cops showed up

My long riding experience through OK and TX has been remarkably similar, and we're talking country people for the most part in both instances. I've done multiple rides from my home state through OK and TX to NM. That set of people are the ones who convinced me.

I am happy your experience has been different.

Oh, ok, you're mostly talking about the "country" people, yeah I agree there, some nutjobs in blanchard and other "rural" areas.

ashkelon wrote:
I used to think the same way, but having spent a couple evenings chatting with Greenspan a few years back started me reading and thinking somewhat differently.

WHAT. You know Alan Greenspan?!?!

I didn't tl;dr.

Needles_10 wrote:

ashkelon wrote:
I used to think the same way, but having spent a couple evenings chatting with Greenspan a few years back started me reading and thinking somewhat differently.

WHAT. You know Alan Greenspan?!?!

I didn't tl;dr.

At this point, I no longer even pause when I see lines like that in Ash's posts.



Just think of Ash as the Sporum's version of that character. Just with a lot more horses.

I don't know him, but I got to spend a couple informal evenings at a surface-casual high-dollar schmooze affair hosted at one of my friend's houses. They are very active in the republican party and have more money than god, and I grew up with them. *shrug* Longer ago than it seems to me since it was prolly during Bush's last bid for re-election. Time flies when you're having fun

Greenspan kicked back in a chair by the fire and a group of us sat around and asked questions, debated and told stories.

He told some great Rand anecdotes.

But most of what we all talked about was federalism, when and how the shift of decision making for the state at the federal level became so pervasive, objectivism, et al. Most of it was thing I'd only thought about on the surface, and he's fun to listen to anyway.

See? This is why I left Earth 3 years ago! You humans are so stupid!!!

MaxxToron wrote:See? This is why I left Earth 3 years ago! You humans are so stupid!!!

See! This is why people like you need to have left sooner. You never were any fun.

And check your profile. I think you have a problem there. "Toronto Industries"?

Well, you must have lots of connections to the high-profile world of the feds.

Needles_10 wrote:Well, you must have lots of connections to the high-profile world of the feds.

Not really, but my friends do. They are a family who have been in state and federal politics (parents, grandparents, etc). One of them was Secretary of Agriculture and Vice President.

There's a lot of political money in IA, plus we have the first primary, so lots of people campaign and schmooze here.

ashkelon wrote:

Needles_10 wrote:Well, you must have lots of connections to the high-profile world of the feds.

Not really, but my friends do. They are a family who have been in state and federal politics (parents, grandparents, etc). One of them was Secretary of Agriculture and Vice President.

There's a lot of political money in IA, plus we have the first primary, so lots of people campaign and schmooze here.

That's one good thing about living in a state that's almost never contested, relatively little political pandering come election year.

This is a state where people vote democrat for decades after their death, republican campaign ads in and around Chicago are money wasted.

On the downside, my vote doesn't really matter as much as someone in Ohio.

Oh crap. Did I misspell Toron AGAIN??????????

SporeMasterSlyth33 wrote:

ashkelon wrote:

Needles_10 wrote:Well, you must have lots of connections to the high-profile world of the feds.

Not really, but my friends do. They are a family who have been in state and federal politics (parents, grandparents, etc). One of them was Secretary of Agriculture and Vice President.

There's a lot of political money in IA, plus we have the first primary, so lots of people campaign and schmooze here.

That's one good thing about living in a state that's almost never contested, relatively little political pandering come election year.

This is a state where people vote democrat for decades after their death, republican campaign ads in and around Chicago are money wasted.

On the downside, my vote doesn't really matter as much as someone in Ohio.

Ah, I lived in the land of Daley and the Lincoln Park Pirates for many years

Learned a whole new style of corruption when I was there. There are relatively few places that support the machine Chicago has.

Aldermen? We haz them.

Ashkelon. . . it is people like you who(m?) I WORSHIP.

. . . I need to make some connections . . .