You will hear many a conservative warn about the evils of “big government” and tout the benefits of “states’ rights.” You’ll hear them talk about “this is the way the founding fathers wanted it!” This is right, but not in the way they’re telling you. Sure, “founding fathers” felt this way, but it wasn’t the United States’ founding fathers who believed in states’ rights…it was the Confederate States who believed, and fought for, states’ rights and against Washington making all the rules.
All 50 States willingly elect a person to be our country’s CEO, our Commander in Chief, and President of the United States. That person is the temporary (four or eight years) leader of the country. Likewise, all 50 States each send 2 people to the Senate to form half of the legislative branch. The other legislative branch is made up of 435 people sent to Washington from all over the country.
The representative form of government our founding fathers set up was one where the states send their representatives to Washington. There, they (ideally) represent the states and communities all around the country and collectively vote on legislation which governs the country.
If the Republicans really and truly want less government and more individual state control, then we would have to change the way our government works. We would have to strip down the 500-ish representatives we send to Washington or else we are willingly spending our tax money (and our children’s tax money) to pay about 500 people who hardly do anything. One could argue they’re already doing too much of nothing. For conservatives who rally against wasteful spending, the evils of big government, and the sanctity of The Constitution of the United States, I can’t imagine why the GOP would want to change the government the true and actual founding fathers created.
You’ll hear many conservatives point to what they say will be Thomas Jefferson’s words of “that government is best which governs least,” however, Jefferson never said that. John Louis O’Sullivan wrote “The best government is that which governs least” in 1837, and Henry David Thoreau quoted it. Ralph Waldo Emerson later on wrote an essay “The Less government we have, the better.” None of the men mentioned above are model Republicans by today’s description, nor are founding fathers of this country.
Most Republicans probably don’t even take their “States’ Rights” thinking seriously, because you would be hard pressed to find someone flying their state’s flag outside of their house (other than Texans, of course). You are going to see Old Glory, or the Confederate Flag.
So, the next time you hear a conservative talk about “states’ rights” and the founding fathers in the same sentence, ask them for evidence to prove that the founding fathers of the United States, who wrote the constitution, were in favor of states’ rights by a large margin, if at all. They won’t be able to prove it, or provide evidence, because none exists.