US Constitution
Article I, Section 10 - Powers prohibited of States
"...No State shall, without the Consent of Congress, lay any duty of Tonnage, keep Troops, or Ships of War in time of Peace, enter into any Agreement or Compact with another State, or with a foreign Power, or engage in War, unless actually invaded, or in such imminent Danger as will not admit of delay."
Hmmm...or can they? If the Federal Model has been permanently damaged by Partisanship, Discourse, and Obstructionism what is to stop Progressive States from working together on common interests such as Health-care, Education, Economic Growth, Rewarding Work, Etc, Etc? Can we find another way...our "Plan B"?
Interstate Compact
"Article I, Section 10, of the U.S. Constitution authorizes the states, with the consent of Congress, to make compacts among themselves. The Compact Clause says, "No state shall, without the Consent of Congress, ... enter into any Agreement or Compact with another State, or with a foreign Power. ..." The U.S. Supreme Court has interpreted this provision to mean that Congress must approve only those interstate agreements that affect the balance of power within the federal system. Furthermore, such approval can be implicit, found in subsequent Congressional acts recognizing the results of the interstate compact (Virginia v. Tennessee, 1893). Administrative agreements or administrative amendments to other agreements do not require congressional approval.
States began making agreements among themselves early in the nation's history. In the colonial period, nine agreements on boundaries existed, and four more were made under the Articles of Confederation. In the first century of the Republic, interstate compacts were limited chiefly to a few boundary agreements; only twenty-four were ratified from 1783 to 1900. A large increase in compacts began in the 1930s, when the Council of State Governments and other organizations began wholehearted encouragement of interstate cooperation as an alternative to federal administration of all interstate issues. By the mid-1970s, the number of compacts approved was over 200, and they affected important governmental responsibilities.
Perhaps the most significant agreements are the river development compacts, which deal with irrigation, pollution control, fishing, and navigation. Federal sponsor-ship of the Colorado River Compact (1928) did not succeed in precluding a long litigation between two of the six states involved, Arizona and California, but the Upper Basin agreement seems to have worked well. The Delaware River Basin Compact (1936) was novel in that it included the federal government as a participating member, as well as the four states directly affected—New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Delaware. The New England Interstate Water Pollution Control Commission, which was formed in 1947, expanded its powers to include regulatory activities in the early 1970s. The Susquehanna River Basin Compact of 1969 (which deals with planning land use), like the Delaware compact, also includes federal participation.
States have made agreements among themselves covering a wide range of other issues and activities, including child custody and placement, educational policy, administration of criminal law, use of natural resources, protection of the environment, transportation, and utility regulation. There are a number of regional development and planning compacts. And one important compact, the Port Authority of New York (1921)—also the first joint administrative agency of a continuing nature—does a multibillion dollar business involving airports, bridges, and tunnels..."
Do you like how much we spend on Defense?
Do you like Subsidies to Corporations?
Do you like Deregulation?
Are you in love with our Plutocracy and the Plutonomy it has spawned?
Do you really want a National Debate on whether the Earth is 6,000 years old?
Are you on board with "The Rapture" being substituted as a plan in place of Conservation and Sound Environmental Policies?
Have you wondered why China will have 11,000 Miles of efficient High Speed Rail in 2012...but we have the new Chairman of the House Energy Committee apologizing to BP for our water damaging their oil?
Then why the fuck are you paying for it?
And worse, Sunny Jim, why the fuck are you paying for more than your fair share of it?
Start by reading Paul Rosenberg's masterful explanation of the situation: "Red-State moochers: States' returns on federal taxes favor those who complain the most"
Which leads us to Dean Lacy's brilliant analysis: "Why do Red States Vote Republican While Blue States Pay the Bills? Federal Spending and Electoral Votes, 1984-2008"
Go ahead, read them, throw up, make a cup of tea and some toast to settle your stomach, and then we can move forward. I can wait.
Feeling better? Well, that is too bad. Here is the Raw Data ...ain't I a stinker?
So what's the point?
Well, the point is this: Progressive is as Progressive does
OK, that is either really stupid, or...
Here is our dilemma: Why aren't Progressive Policies, and by inference Progressive Politicians more popular? I mean, for fuck's sake people, we just lost an election to a Party that is this close to accusing anyone who can do long division in their head of witchcraft.
How could this be, when we have all the good ideas? Perhaps, and I mean just perhaps, the reason is we accomplish 1/100th of what we set out to do?
Try this on: Substitute the word "Progressive" for "Carpenter".
You hear of this chap making all sorts of promises as to how your home can be improved. He calls himself a "Carpenter", and he wants to make your home a better place. Well, his ideas make so much sense you decide to give him a try and say "go ahead, you have a month".
Next Monday the carpenter shows up with his crew of eight. But while half of them start sawing, and drilling, and nailing...the other half are running around cutting power cords, bending nails before they can be nailed, and tearing down anything the other four have tried to build.
A month of this goes by, it has been thirty days of half-building and half-tearing it down, the carpenter has accomplished exactly fuck-all, and you can see no benefit from his continued presence except as a way to spend your money and upset the livestock.
So you say to yourself: "If that's carpentry, you can keep it. No more for me". And you tell the Carpenter to "Piss off"
Progressivism is a dynamic, it is not something we put up on the shelf and debate. Every year, every week, every day nothing gets done is a defeat for Progressives. Because without actual progress it is meaningless...even as a definition of itself. And as meaningless things go, it is a little on the pricey side.
And if all you have to do to defeat Progressive Ideas and Progressive Politicians is, well, nothing more than occasionally knocking the tools out of their hands...then we are pretty much fucked with our present system.
But wait, what if we won the House...oh yeah, we did in 2006
But hey, what good is the House without the Senate? Oh, yeah, we got that too.
But you can't really say you have the Senate without a filibuster proof majority and the Presidency...Fuck me, I think I see where this is going.
Progressive Politics have no future at the Federal Level. Nada, Zip.
Go read this excellent piece at the Progressive States Network:
Why States Matter
So, no, "fucked" is not too strong a word. It is a perfectly apt word.
Brothers and Sisters, we just had the largest majorities in recent history, and on an absolute no-brainer like health-care all we got was a watered-down, weak-ass tome to our Corporate Overlords.
And for that we walked away congratulating ourselves like the rest of the planet and their twenty-four demonstrably better health-care systems didn't already exist.
Let me paint that a little clearer. If two dozen countries had already landed on the moon, we just had a 14 month debate about whether space travel was even possible, and we then spent two months of that side-tracked because some asshole from Alaska got everyone to call the "Lunar Rover" the "Death Buggy".
This does not leave me brimming with optimism. And it leaves the voting public with the distinct impression that we are really shitty carpenters. So good luck getting called back soon.
But do we have a choice? I think we do. Call it "Plan B"
First a few premises: We can do things. This Country, with Progressive Leadership, can and has accomplished great things. This is a difficult concept for regressives to swallow, even though most of them come from States where, had it not been for Progressive National Programs like Rural Electrification, most of them would still be walking 40 miles to gawk at a light-bulb.
Next, we are not really broke. OK, the federal deficit doesn't look too good, but a lot of that is because we are already paying way more than our fair share of Federal Revenue and getting the short end of the Federal Spending Stick. Economically, we would be in a very strong fiscal position if we could stop transferring Blue State wealth to Red States, or tossing it down rat-holes overseas to make the world a safer place for Halliburton.
And what we are currently spending our money on is stuff we don't want to begin with. Are we getting renewable domestic energy supplies, improved infrastructure, a better educational system, you know, maybe one that is in the global top 20? Nope, our money went to none of that. But please help yourself to two unfunded wars, a Military bigger than all the rest of the world's combined, and, oh yeah, the free hand of the market gave us five flavors of boner pills. They just won't be paying taxes on the profits.
Left to our own devices, we could have done really great things with that money.
And go back up the page a bit: That is the key. Away from the tyranny of a few idiots whose motto is: "obstructionism today, obstructionism tomorrow, obstructionism forever" we are a rational force for change. But remember: Regressive win all ties. Doing nothing is a victory for them. We are the ones that have to put up or shut up.
And since I always listen to my better angels about the rights of minority parties and causes in Politics, it follows I have to believe in the right of those minorities to occasionally spit the dummy and bring Washington to a halt. Because maybe our way really doesn't work for them. Maybe highly populated areas are not the same as sparsely populated ones, maybe Oregon is different from South Carolina, and perhaps chalk and cheese are two different things after all.
We don't want to pay for what they want (twelve carrier battle groups) and they don't want to pay for...well..evidently jack-shit if you get right down to cases.
And an isolated State-by-State approach is too damn small to do the things we want to do, and makes it too easy for individual States to get picked off one-by-one by the Plutocrats, or makes them remain shackled to the Feds.
No, we need Progressive States to work together outside of the Federal System which is broken beyond repair. And we can do it, because States already do have a long history of cooperating.
Start with one thing: Get the three left coast States, New England, the part of the Middle Atlantic that doesn't believe cavemen rode dinosaurs, a few more around the Great Lakes, and we can have a robust, affordable Single-Payer Health-Care System that kicks the hell out of what we have now (or will ever get at the Federal level). But we need a Team of Progressive Horses pulling that wagon. No one horse can do it alone.
And what matters then is we would have done something. We would have actually moved a big wagon up the road, or built a damn house quickly and efficiently and restored the good name of Carpenters everywhere, and maybe people would start to see there is something behind this whole "working together" deal everyone was buzzing about. And then we could talk about energy. Or education. Or you name it. Except I would appreciate it if the proposals that all clothing contain 39% hemp fibers by weight to...uh...wait a bit. Seriously, I love you guys but you are not helping.
And no, this is not "Secession", which by the way is unconstitutional, no matter what some ten-gallon ass-hat in the Texas Governor's Mansion or anywhere else thinks.
Honestly, you would have at least thought he would have heard of Texas v White
Texas v. White, 74 U.S. 700 (1869) was a significant case argued before the United States Supreme Court in 1869. The case involved a claim by the Reconstruction government of Texas that United States bonds owned by Texas since 1850 had been illegally sold by the Confederate state legislature during the American Civil War. The state filed suit directly with the United States Supreme Court, which, under the United States Constitution, retains original jurisdiction on cases in which a state is a party.
In accepting jurisdiction, the court ruled that Texas had remained a state ever since it first joined the Union, despite its joining the Confederate States of America and its being under military rule at the time of the decision in the case. In deciding the merits of the bond issue, the court further held that the Constitution did not permit states to secede from the United States, and that the ordinances of secession, and all the acts of the legislatures within seceding states intended to give effect to such ordinances, were "absolutely null"..."
This is not about cutting the Country in two. This is, to borrow an idea, about how we spend "our" money. Except we happen to want to spend some of "ours" together for the benefit of all of us. And the hell of it is, most of it is already our money anyways. And if 55% of the Country by State majority wants single-payer health-care, and will pay for it all by themselves as a Co-op of Progressive States, why should 11% of the population be able to thwart that if they remain unaffected by our enterprise?
But the problem is, once we throw our money in the Federal Stew Pot it becomes "their" money too, and suddenly some slack-jawed idiot from Six-toe County South Carolina is screaming "Socialism" and "You lie!!"
But they would have no reason to kick if we just spent our own money on ourselves. But to do that we have to first take it back.
And that means drowning the little regressive fucktards in a teacup. Agree with them. Stop this no-win charade that we can ever achieve Progressive Gains at the Federal Level.
De-fund the Feds. Stop paying for a bloated military. Take care of our own sick and aged through Progressive Multi-State non-profit Co-ops rather than have them privatize our Federal contributions (which they surely plan to do) and reduce us to just another profit center for the Plutocrats. Hell, it can't be any more expensive than what we are doing now: paying for ours and theirs, whether they want us to or not. And that is the problem. For us to make progress we have to drag them with us, kicking and screaming every step of the way. For them to maintain the status quo, they must forever prevent us from moving forward. Federalism has become an all-or-nothing game, and as we have found out, "nothing" is one hell of a lot easier than "all". So maybe we just walk away from the toss all the money in one Federal hat bit, just like they want to do. Alabama can pay for Alabama. Which they have every right to want to do. We form non-profit Co-ops among many Progressive States for our mutual benefit. Which we have every right to want to do. We would agree to disagree, but we will also agree to stop shoving bicycle pumps in each other's spokes.
Of course, there will always be many, many things we would still cooperate on. The defense we actually do need. The FAA. The department of Justice. Etc, etc. But it would be a positive cooperation with both sides doing so of their free will, not a situation where 51% of the population is constantly at war with the other 49% because we are always trying to either take each others money, or spend each others money, in a way we can not agree on.
And everyone might just be one hell of a lot happier. Maybe we can stop fighting each other if we take away the thing we were fighting over.
But in any event let me leave you with this: Like it or not, whether this is an idea that gets discussed or it is somebody else's, we need a Plan B. And we need one now. Because all that follows is barreling down the highway straight at us and there is no happy ending to us continuing to sit in the middle of the road.
State Redistricting:
Gee, I hope you didn't think Texas' rape of the Constitution in their 2003 redistricting was an aberration?
Hell, I hate for you to hear this from me, but that is the fucking blueprint for the GOP going forward. And they just won enough Governors races and Legislative Majorities to make us pay the price for decades.
And if you think the Robert's Court is going to do shit about it, think again. Jesus, they are out fund-raising for the GOP for Chissakes.
The 2012 Senate Math
It will take a miracle for the Dems to hold onto the Senate in 2012
We are defending 24 seats, many of them in purple or red states. They are defending 9. Good luck with that.
The Death of the Filibuster:
Next January the Dems will make a simple decision: Will the filibuster last two more years before it is swept aside, or do we throw it on History's rubbish heap now?
Because it won't last a nano-second once the GOP gets a majority in the Senate. Hell, boy, they have to save, I say they have to save the Country from some malignant form of Kenyan Socialism and Devil-worship.
If they get the WH in 2012 they abolish the 20th Century with 50 votes. If they don't they bring back Child Labor with 51, call it "The Defense of Christmas Act" and make the President veto that.
As usual, we think we are sitting down to a nice game of chess. Their opening move is to lunge across the board and stab us in the eye with a dessert fork.
The Loss of Civility
I will take it as a victory for good manners if the Republican Leadership can refrain their flock from throwing more than three D-Size batteries at President Obama's head during his next State of the Union Speech. I am not hopeful of actually seeing this triumph of civility over the cesspool of hatred we have now.
Corporate Person-hood
You have only seen the preliminaries. I really think they were a little nervous about getting away with Corporations and Anonymous Plutocrats trying to buy the on-air discourse of the 2010 Elections. But get away with it they dd. Oh, sure we caught them. Like they give a fuck about that. In 2012 the gloves really come off.
The Plutonomy
Under our current grid-locked Federalist System it will continue to flourish and grow...for the almost sole benefit of 1% of the Population. But guess what? Their wealth is now so vast in scale in comparison to the rest of us...they don't need or want us. They sure as hell don't want to hitch their Team to our Big Wagon when it come to transportation, education, health-care, security, etc. It is much more efficient for them to keep increasing their wealth and pay for all those needs themselves.
And then privatize our needs and make a buck on that too.
This is where the National Dialog has lost the plot on how badly we have fucked up with our tax policies over the last 30 years. Once you allow that disparity in wealth, the concept of "we are all in this together" is, on its' face, ludicrous.
The continued war on the middle class
Soon to be a civil war as the remnants fight over the scraps. I am sickened to hear that people in Alabama are cheering the loss of Factory Jobs in Pennsylvania. But I am hearing that a lot. And that divisiveness will only continue to strengthen the status quo. Remember, by definition the Plutocracy will always overwhelmingly support a continuance of the status quo. They flourished under present conditions, why should they ever want to change them? It would take one hell of an enlightened Plutocrat, and by that I mean the fucking Dalai Lama of Plutocracy, to agree to re-shuffle the deck when they are on a winning streak.
And that means, also by definition, the Plutocrats will always be at odds with any Progressive Movement. Because Progress means change.
So what is the answer? The Federalist Model is well and truly broken, and the State-by-State model is too small and weak. How do we find the Golden Mean in between?
Because speaking for myself, mates, I am weary to my bones from pushing this same fucking rock up the same fucking hill, and I think I would like to try a better way. Cheers.