“The Influence of the State and Federal Governments Compared,” from the New York Packet, by James Madison. My essay thereon is here, at Constituting America’s series on The Federalist.
Bottom line: even taking into account the many changes over the last two and quarter centuries, Madison was generally right.
Peter says:
oh….I dont think so.
not by a mile. Madison’s main point is that the states will have more offices. “From the gift of these a greater number of offices and emoluments will flow.”
That is a critical factor because he understood that a government’s influence is directly related to how many people it has on its payroll. That is why the word ‘pension’ was a dirty word in samuel johnson’s dictionary and why he himself was somewhat embarassed about accepting a pension from the king (he felt that as a result, he was barred from criticizing George III).
Now it may be that the states, county and munic govts when combined have a larger payroll than the fed govt, but that leaves out the elephant in the room.
Entitlements.
Tens of millions of American voters are routinely manipulated over social security, and Dem charges that Reps will either cut benefits, or eliminate it altogether. The same is true of medicare.
When you add entitlements to the mix, the contest between the fed govt and the states over who has more influence is not even close.
July 1, 2010, 5:19 pmcboldt says:
– When you add entitlements to the mix, the contest between the fed govt and the states over who has more influence is not even close. –
July 1, 2010, 7:27 pmNot just in the view of individuals. Transfer payments from the fed coffers are sought by state and local governments.
See too, RKBA advocates looking to the federal government to enforce rights.
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September 9, 2010, 8:37 am