A Major Opportunity

Potentially a huge upside to Trump's victory is that the left will start taking Federalism and State's Rights seriously again. If we get as far as reinvigorating the 10th Amendment, we may attain an America that doesn't have to wrap itself in hatred for each other constantly (and especially on even-numbered Novemembers).

That's hopeful, at least.

10 comments:

jaed said...

Meh. If they do, it will be only situationally, as an emergency tactic, and will go away as soon as That Man is no longer in office.

The concept behind federalism is inimical to their whole mindset. It's why they've done so much damage to federalism over the last century or so.

raven said...

Yes to the above- a reflection on the shenanigans surrounding appointments of Senators in MA is pretty clear evidence they will simply change up the rules on a case by case basis to favor them.

Grim said...

The opportunity is that they will need these powers to be validated in the next few years, however. So, for example, it will be easier to get a SCOTUS justice appointed who favors the 10th Amendment if their immediate concern is defending sanctuary cities than if it is, as it has been recently, forcing Arizona to knuckle under on immigration law.

Gringo said...

Meh. If they do, it will be only situationally, as an emergency tactic, and will go away as soon as That Man is no longer in office.

I would tend to agree with that. IIRC,the Massachusetts legislature has changed the rules for filling a US Senate vacancy three times since 2000 according to what party the Governor belongs to. While there have been Republican governors, the leg has been overwhelmingly Democrat.

I am reminded of my Yellow Dog Democrat sister-in-law, coincidentally also from Massachusetts. For the last 8 years she has said that we need to support the President. Rest assured that she never said that when Bush was President, nor will she ever say that when Trump is President.

Gringo said...

I made my comment without reading all the comments. raven and I are on the same page.

Assistant Village Idiot said...

I don't think there will be wholesale defection from the left in the direction of federalism, for reasons noted above. But I don't think it unreasonable to hope that of the liberals who come over tactically for a particular issue, some may develop a grudging acceptance of it while a few even decide it's the way to move forward.

You would think that everyone advocating secession would see the sense of federalism, but I think most still would not. Those folks don't want to be tainted by contact with people they see as regressive. Sort of like getting cooties.

jaed said...

The opportunity is that they will need these powers to be validated in the next few years, however. So, for example, it will be easier to get a SCOTUS justice

That's a good point. But the example only works because appointment of a SC justice has a long-term effect, and can't be undone once the immediate politics change; it's a ratchet. OTOH, passage of laws enabling federalism might win some support, but we can expect it to be undone immediately the next time the Democratic Party has control of the federal mechanism.

Anonymous said...

First, the Democrats have to take their time out in the wilderness. Then, they need to recognize that hiring rent-a-rioters to attack voters for the purpose of blaming the other side, and getting caught, really, really makes voters angry.

They have not yet made much progress, yet.

Valerie

J Melcher said...

A democratic party operative on NPR this morning was making the point that his party needed, now, to forget about the national/federal level and make "progress" at the state and local level.

Good luck with that

I remember how the party supported the states, for instance California, that voted by referendum on clarifying their local laws on "marriage". That didn't wind up in federal court, right?

I remember how the party supported the state of Arizona in enforcing (federal) immigration law. Nobody from D.C. interfered, right?

I remember how the party supported the state of Texas in reforming regulations at "women's clinics" to prevent the abuses suffered by impoverished black clients of a Pennsylvania abortion mill. No national push back, right?

I remember how the party championed the efforts of each individual state to determine how much of a voter ID fraud problem they had, and what measure would be appropriate. Purely a local issue, right?

The decision about which bathrooms in what businesses might be used by what sorts of customers is purely a municipal issue without any role for federal or national party involvement, right?

So, Democrats can act locally with absolute impunity, right?

Good luck.

Ymar Sakar said...

Less a hope and more of a dream. The Left will demand mercy when they are weak, but will give no quarter when you are weak. It's like people don't want to think about how Muslims wage jihad.