When the colonies decided to form a union, it was primarily to have a framework which could perform a limited number of common services for all the colonies which would be difficult, wasteful or impossible for them to do individually. They guarded their sovereignty jealously.
They agreed to common freedoms, such as religion, speech, assembly, trade and travel and others for all their citizens and mechanisms to protect them. They agreed to a common defense but, recognizing that in the case of internal unrest or federal tyranny, such as they had faced from British Royalty, states may have to defend themselves from the federal government, each state was allowed to have a militia of its own. Other common interests and methods for implementing and protecting them were also agreed upon. Again, the individual states remained sovereign in all other respects.
The further away we grew from our origins, the reasons for the revolution and an appreciation of what the founders intended, the more the states relinquished their rights, lured by federal promises and money, until they found themselves hostage to federal largess, charity cases, trapped. No one seemed to understand that money dispersed by the feds came from citizens of their states and, except for poorer states, most of the money could have been raised from the same people at home. There is no logic in sending the money to Washington then having to "beg" to get it back. This is how the central government controls state representatives' votes to give it more power over them.
It is past the time to return the federal government to do the minimal tasks the original union proposed and signed on to. States should, through their representatives in Washington, take back their authority. Without strong states ' rights, the federal government will become more and more centralized and powerful in a way which could make state governments "obsolete".
They agreed to common freedoms, such as religion, speech, assembly, trade and travel and others for all their citizens and mechanisms to protect them. They agreed to a common defense but, recognizing that in the case of internal unrest or federal tyranny, such as they had faced from British Royalty, states may have to defend themselves from the federal government, each state was allowed to have a militia of its own. Other common interests and methods for implementing and protecting them were also agreed upon. Again, the individual states remained sovereign in all other respects.
The further away we grew from our origins, the reasons for the revolution and an appreciation of what the founders intended, the more the states relinquished their rights, lured by federal promises and money, until they found themselves hostage to federal largess, charity cases, trapped. No one seemed to understand that money dispersed by the feds came from citizens of their states and, except for poorer states, most of the money could have been raised from the same people at home. There is no logic in sending the money to Washington then having to "beg" to get it back. This is how the central government controls state representatives' votes to give it more power over them.
It is past the time to return the federal government to do the minimal tasks the original union proposed and signed on to. States should, through their representatives in Washington, take back their authority. Without strong states ' rights, the federal government will become more and more centralized and powerful in a way which could make state governments "obsolete".
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