The Forward March of the Nationalists

The Constitution, Section 3. “The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two Senators from each State, chosen by the Legislatures thereof, for six years; ...”

A hundred-twenty-years later, the following time bomb was inserted by the nationalists, performing a coup of the entire federal government, and reducing State Governments to symbolic figure-heads of the union.

The Constitution, Amendment 17 (1913).  “The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two Senators from each State, chosen by the people thereof, for six years; ...”

The mere suggestion of such an amendment should have triggered outrage among all State Legislators, as well as other State Officials. It was a thumb-of-the-nose to the Founders and all their federalist ilk.  The nationalists had, overnight, built a wall around Washington, D.C. The nationalists had sent the States back home with their tails between their legs.  The U.S. Congress was now completely under the control of the nationalists.  The situation was a no-brainer that should have caused an immediate realignment of the two major political parties.

Twenty years later, President FDR consolidated disparate political factions into one partisan group which began looking to the national government to solve all their problems.  Since that time, the nation’s electorate has been waiting for the other shoe to drop. 

Their question: “What is the other major party going to do to counter the trend toward nationalism?”  “Who will come to the aid of those cherishing the right to vote with their feet?”  Who will carry the message that fifty states are better than a single government in D.C. for those pursuing “a life of freedom and opportunity.  Fifty laboratories of democracy competing with each other for the best talent to come live in their State, should be the ideal of a free people. Eighty years after FDR, the nation still waits for the formation of a political party that is dedicated to federalism and will go all out in the fight to limit nationalism to its proper role: the pursuit of a common foreign policy.

Boiled down to one issue, that new party should go all out for the adoption of one grid of local community districts for the entire federation.  That is the key that unlocks the secret to successful federalism. It qualifies a single set of legislators to rule the entire nation.  And it empowers the people to change them every two years if they wish.