Justifiable public resentment of representatives in the federal government is due to vile perquisites driven by lobbyists. The prevailing perception is that politicians sent to Washington are unable to shed their childish ties and grow their thinking to a national level. Currently, however and ironically, this selfish, provincial brattiness is valued mostly by the present majority which unabashedly declares one step further that there should be little need for Washington middlemen in the distribution of "perks": let them remain with state lobbyists and legislators.


The political reason for this is clear: far from being the termination of corruption and unethical practice, it is a safety net for the power hungry to spread the corruption throughout the states, thereby making it impossible to reform and gain control over a nation that is increasingly becoming divisive by underhanded politicians and factions tugging on the strings of the self-centered in a growing number of citizens who conjure up the jungle impulse to breach moral imperatives. Lobby reform by men of integrity on a national level is not impossible to achieve; enhancing perquisites on a state level puts it out of the limelight and consequently uncontrollable. Governors then are unhindered in coming to the Capitol of state’s rights to lie in wait, salivating their chops in anticipation of the prey of unhindered block grants.


The senseless proclivity of current voters toward states rights is the first step back into the past of tribalism. Localizing preferences gives rise to the deception of resurrecting the "rugged individual" who can go it alone—club in hand. Little does he realize that he is falling into the trap of politicians who live by the diabolical prima facie of divide and conquer. The strategy of the today's ostensibly majority party is to obfuscate the issues and befuddle citizens for its own gain by unraveling the national government. Federalism is the only line of defense against the injustice of scattered pockets of power bent on returning to laissez-faire in order to hold down the rights and demands of the common man that were built into his consciousness by the giant steps of fifty years of relatively liberal government until Reagan emerged from the cave to beat his chest, to do battle with the legacy of FDR; deep in the shadows of the cave BW was waiting for his cue to emerge with club in hand.


Copyright © 2004 Richard R. Kennedy All rights reserved. Revised: February 10, 2004.