Why do you think Washington DC is too powerful?

Answer 1

Too much power apparently came to be centered in Washington, after the Civil War. If you have read how the constitution came together, it was a messy, lengthy process. It is pretty obvious that the states thought of themselves as separate and their intent was to set up a central government to represent their interest for only concerns they had in common at a national level; such as, a. business between the states (interstate commerce) a currency b. recognition from powerful governments, who could have attacked any one state and added to that empire, a State Department was needed to keep diplomatic relations with other countries as one nation c. the ability to have an army to defend the United States. d. how this central government would be checked from tyranny, the three branches of government, e. how each state would be represented in the central government. Other things are in the Bill of Rights, The Declaration. I think the constitutional convention really shows how much the states wanted autonomy. The United States was not the Union of States. Differing states tried to secede frequently. Negotiation would bring them around. Henry Clay did much work and is called the Great Compromiser. The precedent never pretended to forbid secession. Incentives were given to keep the states. Not until Abraham Lincoln was secession called into question. He used his oath of office "to preserve the Union" as a directive. I have not studied that in depth. I think about what would have happened if someone took that assertion to Congress and the Supreme Court today. There is still much regional discontent. There are Southerners who still believe the Confederacy exists because General Lee was not authorized to surrender the South. You can see evidence of this quickly. Just visit Facebook. There's a contest between the North and the South. Look at the numbers. Democracy is sloppy. There was civil unrest as the Depression came on. When unemployment hit 25%, the unemployed became mobs in the street. Roosevelt and Congress were forced to do something. With social media and worldwide financial problems, I expect these mobs to appear faster. I think our politicians are asleep at the switch. The Federal System was meant to serve the states not the other way around. Roosevelt set up the income tax at 1% ruling it would never exceed that. We see what DC did with that.