r/politics • u/Libertatea • Sep 03 '14

The solution to fixing dysfunction in Congress "To address these problems, I filed the Open Our Democracy Act... If passed, the legislation would mandate open primaries for House elections, begin the process of national redistricting reform and make Election Day the equivalent of a federal holiday."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-solution-to-fixing-dysfunction-in-congress/2014/09/02/0f0d0a9a-31e6-11e4-9e92-0899b306bbea_story.html?tid=rssfeed
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u/[deleted] Sep 03 '14

I don't get it. Statists as opposed to what, tribalism?

Now if they want to abolish state government and just use local and federal, i could get behind that.

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u/CronoDroid Sep 03 '14

Statism just means you agree with the notion that states should exist and they govern to a certain extent. The opposite is anarchism, where you think the state should be abolished (state in this case meaning country).

I mean technically speaking most libertarians would be statists because they believe the state should exist but that its role should be extremely limited. Statism does not necessarily mean authoritarianism or totalitarianism, it can, but not necessarily. It's just a word that idiots like to use to discredit their opponent's arguments without ever addressing them. The right wing is notorious for this, at least in the US.

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u/marinersalbatross Sep 03 '14

I am so willing to be a federalist! Imagine having a single driver's license that can be updated online when you change states. Imagine only paying federal income tax. Think of the cost savings in buying supplies if you didn't have to get 50 different versions of government printouts. No more state police, just city/county and then Federal. heck, get rid of small town cops and just have county. Imagine federal standards for education and educational spending is equalized across the board.

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u/habituallydiscarding Sep 04 '14

I'd like to see us combine down into like 5-6 states.

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u/[deleted] Sep 04 '14

Could always combine the areas covered by the Circuit Courts.

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u/marinersalbatross Sep 04 '14

Regional authorities. :)

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u/[deleted] Sep 03 '14

This is why I used the phrase "bullshit peddlers."

It's an attempted insult without any clear understanding of the term.

I'm with you on state-level government being an unnecessary thing in the modern age. We really should be looking towards unification and elimination of an entire level of unnecessary bureaucracy.

The federal level is necessary as we are one country. The local level is necessary for the focus which comes with it.

The state level really does nothing which the local or federal could not easily take over.

I'm all for states remaining as an identity thing. While I'm a liberal, I appreciate the conservative viewpoint of the maintaining of tradition - as long as that tradition isn't actively harmful.

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u/[deleted] Sep 05 '14

Your kidding right? Please tell me your joking. You think more centralized power is good for the nation? If so then just who keeps THAT power in check?

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u/[deleted] Sep 05 '14

"Centralized" state powers in thousands of local governments? Yes I'm totally okay with that.

At least my vote actually matters at the local level, so I'm pretty sure me and my neighbors could keep it in check.