But the same logic by which Speaker Gingrich blamed liberal Democrats for the unfortunate woman in South Carolina who murdered her two children surely indicts anti-government demagogues as unwitting accomplices in the Oklahoma City crime. This assault on the national government is represented as returning power to the people. But the withdrawal of the national government does not transfer power to the people. Getting government off the back of business simply means putting business on the back of government. It is an illusion to say that, because local government is closest to the people, it is therefore most responsive to the people.
Local government is the government of the locally powerful.
Historically it is national government that has served as the protector of the powerless. It is the national government that affirmed the Bill of Rights against local vigilantism and preserved natural resources against local greed. The national government has civilized industry, secured the rights of labor organization, improved income for the farmer and provided a decent living for the old. Above all, the national government has vindicated racial justice against local bigotry. Had the state rights creed prevailed, we would still have slavery in the United States.