NYT: Red, Blue and Angry All Over(Bush's fed govt grabs power from states)

[DeepModem Mom]

REBELLION OF THE STATES
Red, Blue and Angry All Over
By JAMES DAO

Published: January 16, 2005


....Ten years after Newt Gingrich's Republican revolutionaries won control of the House under the banner of states' rights, states across the country are again complaining about the heavy heel of federal authority on everything from taxes to tort law to education to the environment.

But now, the mandates and pre-emptions emanating from Washington are coming not from big-government Democrats but conservative Republicans. And thanks to the party's successes in recent years, more of the state and local officials who are complaining about those actions are Republicans, too.

As a result, the major political battles this year in Washington may not be between Democrats and Republicans in Congress, but between the states and the federal government. "The principle of federalism has gotten lost in the weeds by a Republican Congress that was elected to uphold it in 1994," said Senator Lamar Alexander, a Republican and former governor of Tennessee who is an advocate for states on Capitol Hill. "Conservatives are as bad as liberals about imposing mandates once they come to Washington."...

***

....tax battles also underscore a new trend in the struggle between states and the federal government: Where Democrats once imposed mandates on states, Republicans have pushed to pre-empt state powers, particularly on taxes. "Congress once had been pretty hands off as far as state finances were concerned," said David Brunori, a contributing editor with State Tax Notes, a newsletter. "That has changed."

Federal pre-emption may also expand into the area of state regulatory powers. With the rise of aggressive state attorneys general willing to investigate industries from tobacco to securities to insurance and banking, many large corporations have begun turning to Washington for relief. Though they once favored dealing with state regulators, many multinational corporations now would prefer the oversight of a single federal agency....


http://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/16/weekinreview/16dao.html

[Erika]

1. Bush is a Federalist building big Govt.

He believes in states rights until they disagree with his backers beliefs. No medical marijuana, no assisted suicide, no gay marriages.

[gumby]

2. Surprise. Surprise..... NOT

That stupid "State's Rights" propaganda by the right was never anything other than coded racism. The Power Grabbers NEVER believed, and still do not believe in any form of democracy. They just used the that issue to employ racism as a means to bash Democrats.

"There's been a big shift toward federal power." Well, duh!!.. and that's only start of it buddy. It's called "consolidation of power." That's what happens when a dictator unlawfully seizes the reigns of the government/military. Fascism 101.

[NYC]

3. Say one thing, do another.

No surprise to anyone who has been paying attention.

[hadrons]

4. In the end, the Repukes will just take it there ....

they may whine now, but when Dumbya pulls down their pants they'll hand him the K-Y

[xchrom]

5. the corporatists do not believe in state's rights

gingrich is a corporatist shill.
an argument was ''constructed'' and fed to the public with an eye to cutting taxes for the wealthy -- that's all it was ever about.

[snippy]

6. This is what happens when there is corrupt one party control. n/t