If you've been following COVID-19 news lately, you know that talks have stalled in Congress on the next piece of aid legislation. On its face, it looks like a bad move for Republicans -- sending money to struggling Americans seems like a no-brainer for the party in power in the weeks before an election.
But the story is more complicated. Republicans are refusing to agree to the Democrats' demands because Democrats want to bail out poorly-run state and local governments.
For years, these governments have relied on taxpayer dollars from other states and cities to fund their luxurious lifestyles. Rich residents support social welfare policies and expensive city services because they don't have to pay for them. Their cities and states are bailed out by federal dollars, dollars that are in jeopardy the longer the COVID crisis continues.
Here's how the National Review's Daniel Tenreiro puts it:
The cultural and political power of major metropolitan centers stems from their unique combination of economic dynamism and progressive governance. In San Francisco, for instance, byzantine zoning restrictions mean that tech investors can live in hermetically sealed, perfectly manicured neighborhoods and be guaranteed that their homes will appreciate in value. This unstable equilibrium, propped up by expensive city services and high-paying municipal jobs, is made possible by federal largesse. It is the relationship between Congress and blue-state legislatures that creates cities like San Francisco, simultaneous powerhouses and basket cases with sufficient political clout to foist their will on the rest of the country.
In other words, if state and local governments were forced to actually solve their own problems and fund their own programs, they would implement policies that don't rely on federal dollars from the rest of the country.
They would be forced, in short, to govern themselves.
That's what we're all about at the Convention of States Project. We believe the federal government should play a much smaller role in American life. State and local governments should be empowered to pass the laws and regulations their local communities support. If those laws and regulations don't work, people will either vote those politicians out of office or vote with their feet and leave.
But we'll never get there as long as Washington holds all the power. That's why we want to call the first-ever Article V Convention of States. A Convention of States can propose constitutional amendments that limit the power of the federal government, limit the amount of money Congress can spend, and impose term limits on federal officials.
With these amendments in place, citizens at the state and local levels will have the power to decide their own futures, to spend their tax dollars how they see fit, and to govern themselves.
