Today, it is easy enough to say that the Clause certainly does not empower Congress to ban gun possession within 1,000 feet of a school. Commentary has focused on the issue of medical marijuana, which obfuscates the ruling s deeper disregard for federalism.
Decentralized governance is a major element of American conservatism.
While constitutionally coarse individuals often conflate states rights with white supremacy and other pathologies, conservatives appreciate the indispensability of divided political authority to self-government. Were not this great country already divided into states, that division must be made, that each might do for itself what concerns itself directly, and what it can so much better do than a distant authority. Among other areas, this is evident in the Constitution s ratification, which was contingent upon a requisite number of state conventions whose ratification bound only themselves. Those which are to remain in the State governments are numerous and indefinite. While national supremacy is commonly accepted today, the Founders conceived of a finite, constrained mandate for the federal government.