California, as well as every other state in the Union, is quickly becoming prey to a giant, soulless monster that even our Governator can’t stop:
“As California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger tries to plug a budget hole that could swell to more than $21 billion next week, he’s quickly discovering a universal truth: Uncle Sam controls the strings.
The Republican governor and state officials find themselves unable to cut spending as deeply as they’d like in some areas because of the potential loss of federal funds. Schwarzenegger wants to save $750 million by rolling back the state’s Medi-Cal program, tightening eligibility and reducing benefits.”
Schwarzenegger’s proposed cuts are reasonable and prudent, and no matter what California Democrats may say, cuts are going to need to be made to help manage our bloated debt and budget crisis.
The fact that our Governor can’t make these desired cuts because the feds might withhold funds reveals the flaws in our top-heavy regime in D.C. It is a highly centralized system, and it tries to make uniform, one-size-fits-all policies for every single state, despite the fact that every state has its own unique needs, landscape, and political leanings. What is good for California or New York may not be good for Montana or New Hampshire, but our federal government makes laws that ignore states’ different requirements.
Attempting to do this also requires power and authority be vested into one ruling city, whose take-it-or-leave-it policy is starting to strangle the states it’s supposed to represent. This centralization guts local knowledge and control of local problems, and will inevitably lead to self-asphyxiation.
Plenty of Americans are getting fed up with the Fed’s stranglehold on our individual, local, and state sovereignty. Rick Perry, the Governor of Texas, publicly entertained the idea of secession last April at anti-tax rally:
“Texas is a unique place. When we came into the union in 1845, one of the issues was that we would be able to leave if we decided to do that,” Perry said. “My hope is that America and Washington in particular pays attention. We’ve got a great union. There’s absolutely no reason to dissolve it. But if Washington continues to thumb their nose at the American people, who knows what may come of that.”
More than a dozen states from the North, the South, and the Midwest have also recently passed legislation affirming the sovereignty of their laws and affirming the rights given to them by the 10th Amendment. Even if they don’t secede or threaten to secede, it is the beginning of a trend where people are starting to see (correctly) that the federal government is not their friend, does not know what is best, tramples liberties, confiscates our income, and fights wars of aggression overseas.
Need more proof of our federal government’s tyranny? The Federal Reserve, our government’s economic “stabilizer,” can not account for $9 trillion in off-balance sheet transactions. $9 trillion???? Gone. Vanished. This is the same institution that has the job of fixing our debt-ridden economy with “stimulus” money. I say California not take a dime of this fiat money, look inward, and solve our problems locally and responsibly.
Some may scoff and argue that this position is extreme; the federal government may be a bit too large, but it’s just something that we have to deal with. Well, this country was created by liberty-loving and pro-decentralist extremists who seceded from the British Crown (a government far, far, FAR less oppressive than the parasitical one in DC).
Even if one can’t get on board with the idea of secession, the time has come to stop looking to the federal government to solve our problems. Then, and only then, can California address the problems it faces and realize the merits of political independence.
A Little Rebellion 