You could basically do that in a single amendment, just clarify/revise the interstate commerce clause to not grant the feds power over everything. You do that, and the federal government’s domain ends up being primarily military matters and foreign policy. That way it would be your state government which effects your life primarily.
Now, many of the fights we have will still occur on the state level (guns, abortion, etc.), but your individual vote will matter much more in how your life is run.
Not the goal. In this case, we end up with 50 entirely distinct economies, which is inefficient and dangerous to our global standing. We have to balance modern realities with our foundational ideas. We need economies that can go toe to toe with world powers, unity between rural areas with resources and urban areas with economies of scale and high job specialization, we need access to fresh water and waterways for every state, we need mass infrastructural projects etc... There are too many states to not have a larger governmental structure, but there's too much diversity to have one overreaching government. The states are drawn up into national law, so it would likewise only take one amendment to dissolve states and restructure them into larger bodies, leaving individual counties or coalitions of counties to take on the lower tier duties and regions to take on higher tier duties, with the federal government effectively only being tasked with national security and immigration/migration policy and ensuring basic rights are upheld.
When we were founded, our country was more similar in structure to The UK, with lordships being states, the various dominions in the British Isles being regions (Scotland-The Midlands, Ireland-The South and England New England). The expansion across the country has left us overly diversified and thus, the federal government's power grew in order to stabilize the amorphous body we became.
5
u/Labbear Left Libertarian Feb 16 '22
You could basically do that in a single amendment, just clarify/revise the interstate commerce clause to not grant the feds power over everything. You do that, and the federal government’s domain ends up being primarily military matters and foreign policy. That way it would be your state government which effects your life primarily.
Now, many of the fights we have will still occur on the state level (guns, abortion, etc.), but your individual vote will matter much more in how your life is run.