The Birth of a Nation

The inevitable has finally happened. The last tenuous grip that state and local governments had to any semblance of freedom or sovereignty has been destroyed. Federal "aid" has finally become the top form of state income, replacing everything else(story here). Various governmental abuses in the last century had already eradicated most states' rights anyway, but final control over funding is the final nail. As many of corporations in America have learned, there is no such thing as "free" government money. You tow the line or you lose the funds. Now that this money is vital to the operations of the states, losing it is no longer an acceptable proposition. The states will be forced (even more then they were) to bow before the Federal Government's demands if they want to stay afloat.

Admittedly, the freedom of the state and local governments was already near death before they lost complete control of their finances. At every turn possible, the Federal Government has consolidated as much power as it could at the cost of the states. In spite of the 10th Amendment which says "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people", the Federal Government has been able to remove anything holding it back and absorb many powers that were not supposed to be in its hands. Everything from education to abortion to drug policy has been taken from the states and given to the central authority.

The Supreme Court and federal funding have been the two most powerful forces in this theft. The Commerce Clause has been repeatedly expanded and abused to fit the whims of the leadership in Washington. As recently as 2005, in Gonzales v. Raich, the Supreme Court showed that it was still willing to preform legal back flips to excuse unconstitutional actions. When that does not work, there are still a whole host of other hollow excuses. They offer reasoning that usually "evolves" and expands the Constitution such as the "necessary and proper" clause to uses of treaty power (State of Missouri v. Holland). Even when they are unable justify a specific encroachment, there is always funding. The Federal Government has already wielded this club to great effect in the past on education, speed limits, minimum drinking ages, and other areas that it feels a need to control. Now that the states are totally dependent on them, there is little doubt that they will swing more frequently and with greater force.

With this final gasp of air, the United States of America is no more. We are no longer a federation of sovereign states. We should more aptly be named the Nation of America as that is what we have become. The leviathan has consumed all of the smaller creatures and is now all that remains. The term "Federal Government" is now truly a misnomer as it is no longer bound in any way to the states. We have a supremely strong central or national government that will no longer play even a hint of lip service to it Constitutional bounds. This power will never be returned to the states or the people by the National Government's free will. It is lost to us forever.