Anyone who expects politicians to make empty promises that they will more politely kill each other in the future to resolve the country’s tensions is dreaming. Candidates’ vicious rhetoric can fan the flames of political hatred, most recently fueling the assassination attempt on Donald Trump. But those flames were lit long ago. To dampen these flames, the best way to reduce the likelihood that Americans with different views will compete for political control is to reduce the power of government—starting with the federal government.
rattlesnake is JD Tuccille’s weekly newsletter. If you care about government overreach and real threats to everyday freedoms, this is for you.
Dirty words and worse emotions
“MAGA Republicans have no respect for the Constitution. They don’t believe in the rule of law. They don’t recognize the will of the people,” President Joe Biden charged in a 2022 speech in Philadelphia.
Republican candidate Donald Trump has made the same point, including at a rally in Ohio in March, claiming, “If we don’t win this election, I don’t think there will be another election in this country.”
This is raw stuff, but not just a candidate. Partisans of the major political parties are increasingly disdainful of each other, according to the National Election Study. From 1978 to 2000, Republicans and Democrats rated each other in the 40s on a scale of 1-100. After the turn of the century, those numbers dropped to 20 and below in 2020.
“A majority of Democrats (55%) say the Republican Party scares them, while 49% of Republicans say the same about Democrats,” a 2016 Pew Research Center report states. “Nearly half of Democrats (47%) and Republicans (47% to 46%) say the other party makes them angry.
This sparked a lot of discussion about the “hate” that dominates relations between political factions – language that’s not an exaggeration when you see how both sides view each other.
The Center for Politics at the University of Virginia found last year that “about half (52% of Biden voters, 47% of Trump voters) believe those who support the other party pose a threat to the American way of life.” “About 40% of both groups (41% of Biden voters, 38% of Trump voters) believe at least somewhat that the other party has become so extreme that it is acceptable to use violence to prevent them from achieving their goals. “
Now, we are in the midst of escalating political violence, culminating in the assassination of a former president seeking a return to the White House. The country’s main political factions believe the election is too important to lose. Considering how scary these factions are, maybe they’re right.
Reduce heat by dispersing power
But if there is an electoral conflict and parties that hate each other feel they cannot afford to lose, then perhaps the temperature can be cooled by reducing the importance of the competition. If the federal government plays a smaller role in our lives, it won’t matter so much who wins control of the White House and Congress. If power shifts from Washington to states and localities where voters are closer and dissenters can more easily escape in moving trucks, perhaps the political fight won’t have to be so fierce.
The 2024 Republican platform even offers an opportunity for such devolution.
“We will close the Department of Education in Washington, D.C., return it to the states where it belongs, and let the states run our education systems the way they should,” the document reads.
On abortion, the platform similarly celebrates overturning Roe v. Wadewas not calling for a national ban, but said “the power has been given to the states and the people to vote.”
“California is going to want to adopt different policies than Ohio, Ohio is going to want to adopt different policies than Alabama, and it makes sense to let state voters make the decision,” Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio) said in his speech. he told Fox News’ Sean Hannity after being selected as the Republican vice presidential pick.
It’s not enough to satisfy true believers on either the anti-abortion or pro-life sides — some Republicans are deeply disturbed by the shift away from the party’s old hardline positions — but it’s a reasonable way to reduce conflict on an issue. agree.
Rediscover federalism and vote with your feet
This is, of course, a reinvention of federalism—a fundamental principle underlying the American structure. But two and a half centuries later, federal officials have seized power, increasingly pursuing one-size-fits-all policies. When people strive to impose their will, this is the root of the political conflict we see around us Their Preferred policy and evade the enemy’s policy.
Ilya Somin, a law professor at George Mason University, told the Federalist Society: “The diversity created by federalism also works by reducing conflicts that arise when the federal government has the power to impose one-size-fits-all policies across the country. Help promote unity “Decentralization can alleviate this conflict. “
Somin added that decentralized policymaking also makes it easier for people to “vote with their feet”, moving from jurisdictions dominated by policies they don’t like to jurisdictions they feel comfortable with. He wrote an entire book on the subject.
We’ve seen this happen in the “big genres” described in Bill Bishop’s 2008 book of the same name, and it continues.
The Associated Press reported last summer that “Americans’ rapid racial segregation for political reasons has fueled the greatest divisions between states in modern history.” “This schism has led states to lean left or right politically, adopting diametrically opposed laws on some of today’s hottest issues.”
Of course, this only works if states and localities are allowed to set their own policies. Unfortunately, Democrats have a long history of concentrating power and unifying policies across the country. The term “federal” used in the party’s recent platform overwhelmingly refers to Increase DC characters.
But it’s been four years since the document was released, and the country has become more divided and conflict-ridden since then. Democrats briefly rediscovered their interest in federalism when Trump entered the White House and may resurface as he prepares to return. It may be better to enjoy policies they like locally – or have the option to move to where the policies are implemented – than national conflict and violence.
If Americans can be convinced that federal elections are not worth fighting for by transferring power to states and localities, then we should discuss further decentralization. Everything is best if it’s personally oriented.
