Charlottesville
October 6, 2022
I have learned so much from my conservative friends over the past few years. Our conversations and dialogues have helped me to understand better what I believe and why I believe it.
Putting down a marker here on a fluid thought I am having. And it's agreement with those who want more states' rights. (Yeah, I'm late to this game). I think what pushed (threw) me into this camp is how our federal tax dollars have been invested in "harvesting" water for the southwest (as well as all the other dams in California and Washington). Effectively the US taxpayer has and continues to subsidized the price of water and electricity out there. Why?
I have also been influenced by my education of how the Commerce Clause has led to an increasing role of the federal government. Some of the Supreme Court decisions in that area are difficult for me to agree with.
My take here is at the 30,000 foot level. I think a deep dive would explode my brain. But elements I have thought of -- no more federal subsidies, no more federal loan programs, no more coddling farmers with subsidies -- including and especially for ethanol, no more "transfer payments" from wealthy states to lower income states. (The collateral damage is those lower income states are going to have to find a way to raise funds that now come from our federal taxes.). Governors and state legislators will become more powerful and they explicitly compete for population. Mississippi wants to become a Christian state? Go for it. Montana wants to arm every citizen? It's not my issue because I don't live there. And the federal government will become much less powerful and news will once again be more local. It will be fun to have states compete for my citizenship!
And I bet this calms down the divisiveness we experience everyday. It certainly will at the federal level.
Sorry if you read this and go, "Duh." Never said I was the fastest thinker; just said I am a thinker. 🤪