I used to be all states rights. In theory it should work. The states would represent everyone's interests better than a national government could, while the federal government makes sure that the states don't violate minority rights.
In practice, it's sorta pointless to try maintaining the balance, because nature abhors a vacuum. Someone is going to have more power than the other no matter what you do. The federal government was encroaching on states right almost as soon as the ink was dry on the Constitution. And whatever else the civil war was about, it was also a power struggle between the federal government and the states, and lo and behold, any showdown between the two tends to be won by the side with the most power and resources (the federal government). States rights sounds great, but maintaining the balance of power between the two is impossible. And people are too stupid and easily manipulated to be counted on to make sure the balance is maintained.
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Originally Posted by J.R.R. Tolkien
There is only one bright spot and that is the growing habit of disgruntled men of dynamiting factories and power-stations; I hope that, encouraged now as ‘patriotism’, may remain a habit! But it won’t do any good, if it is not universal.
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