Responsive government close to home has been replaced by bureaucratic government from inside the Washington beltway, attended by high taxes, gigantic budget deficits and enormous regulatory burdens. For evidence, one must only look at the federal budget. In the past 20 years more federal laws have been passed usurping state and local control than in the previous 200 combined. This moves government away from the people. States were designed to be government close to the people, a reflection of their own values.
States also serve as a check on national power as coequal partners in the federal system.
But recently states have been relegated to subordinate status, becoming more and more like administrative units of the national government. But an American style revolt occurred a little more than two weeks ago as the American people went to the polls and voted. The people sent a clear message. They want less government, more responsive government, government closer to home. And thus, among the many things we ought to be grateful for this Thanksgiving weekend is a government that provides the historic opportunity for a dramatic course correction, a chance to restore checks and balances to our American democracy.