"The argument about 'states' rights' vs. the role of the Federal govt is as old as the country itself. And no, they're not going to change the Constitution on this one...."

You're right about the length of the argument--I just think we as a country still have some arguin' to do, as the current "solution," that of merely ignoring the constititution when the federal gov't wants to--goes directly against that sacred document.

Either we have a constitution that restrains our federal gov't, or we do not. And there is a mechanism in place for changing that constitution if enough people can become convinced that our government is overly restrained--through Congress, we can always change the length of the chain.

But in the past century or so, government has run completely off the chain, and it's defecating in everybody's flower gardens & chewing up the newspapers. (To keep the metaphor going.)

I don't want to live in a country where the federal government holds all of the power to decide even local issues.

"I don't want to live in a 'balkanized' fifty state consortium, where every backwater fiefdom and well- oiled urban political machine calls the shots. Don't forget the 'states rights' arguments of the modern civil rights era. It took the Federal govt to put us on the road to sanity."

Powerful video and song, and yes, you're right, intervention at the federal level was probably necessary in that particular set of struggles. It was really just a continuation of the Civil War though, and the argument can be made that mistakes at the federal level all through the late 1800's and early 1900's lay at the heart of many of those challenges. The federal government has a knack for screwing up pretty much anything it touches.

In a previous post you mentioned your position that Libertarianism is an outdated philosophy of government, that it ran its course over a century ago and is no longer viable as a political ideal. (I hope I'm getting your position accurately).

I have another political philosophy that has been well played out long ago and is not viable. It is one that stands in direct opposition to the goals of libertarians (insofar as I understand their position).

That is the philosophy that says any nation can long bear up a world-wide empire, uniting all the disparate peoples in far-flung corners, and do this by force. It seems to me that something like that is what's happening now due to our federal government running amok without the informed consent (note the adjective) of the governed.

Among whom did that political philosophy find itself played out? To name a few, the Romans, the Mongolians, the Persians, the British . . .

Thanks for the valuable song link. I was unaware of that song, and I have a use for that link. Very grateful for that one.

Herring405