In 1964, Republican Barry Goldwater said, "I fear Washington and centralized government more than I do Moscow." Goldwater feared centralized government so much that, despite having co-founded the Arizona NAACP, he opposed the 1964 Civil Rights Act on principle because it extended federal power.
But 40 years later, the politics of the man who wrote "Conscience of a Conservative" - states' rights - may be part of a new politics for Democrats.
One thing is certain: it is no longer in the vocabulary of the Republican Party. I can think of few federal power grabs more intrusive than Republicans' attempts to stick a tube down the throat of a Florida woman last year. The Terry Shiavo case illustrates precisely why libertarians should always pledge allegiance to minority parties - to help prevent the empowered from becoming the overpowered. Now that Republicans are in power, they've stop-ped railing against "big government" and advocating "states' rights" because those ideas now limit their power.
Similarly, Democrats are now taking the reins of decentralization rhetoric and action because it serves to empower them and their policies. State governments lead by Democrats (and some moderate Republicans) have been overriding federal standards to implement policies the Bush administration refuses to. For example, under the federal Clean Air Act, California is allowed to set its own auto emission standards. Other states may choose to adopt Californian or federal standards, but federal standards have always been much looser and much more popular.
Now, however, many states believe the federal government has been too slow to move in adopting stricter emission standards to alleviate climate change. As a result, they are moving to enact California's standards in their own states. This summer Oregon and Washington agreed to adopt California's auto emission standards together. Such standards require 30 percent less carbon dioxide, 20 percent fewer toxic pollutants and up to 20 percent fewer smog-causing pollutants than federal standards, according to the Associated Press.
These Pacific Coast states comprise a third of the auto market. Add in the six northeastern states that are also expected to adopt California standards by the end of the year (four more states are considering it), and the stricter standards would be required for so many new cars that automakers will probably find it cheaper to adapt all their cars to California standards. As Oregon Governor Ted Kulongoski put it, "If the federal government doesn't want to move forward on global warming, then the states are going to have to do it."
The same goes for power plant emissions, which New York and eight other northeastern states have made a tentative agreement to freeze and then reduce by 10 percent in the next 15 years. The agreement is functioning as a sort of inter-state treaty, which must be approved by each legislature once the text is finalized. The Pacific Coast states are exploring a similar regional agreement. Meanwhile, the mayors of 130 cities, including New York and Los Angeles, have formed a bipartisan coalition to meet the Kyoto Accord's emission reductions on local levels. Let the record show that our nation is serious about global warming - it's just our president who isn't. Luckily, we have states' rights on our side.
Now if we could only get states to do something about rising poverty, since Bush's compassionate conservatism seems to have overlooked those most deserving of compassion. The official national poverty rate rose to 12.7 in 2004, but a more complex and accurate measure by the Census Bureau shows that the real poverty rate is closer to 15 percent. 37 million U.S. citizens now live in poverty, six million more than when Bush took office.
As with automobile and power plant emissions, states must do more on their own to fight poverty if the federal government refuses. And if libertarians are serious about fighting centralized power, then they need to start listening to those who tell them to always vote the minority party. Goldwater would expect no less.
Rob Sand's '05.5 real politics is constructive work.
