An Interesting Proposal

The state of Utah seems to want to relieve the burden of governing from Washington DC.

We'd like to relieve some of their burden.

We don't believe that 535 members of Congress and the president can educate our children, provide health care, pave our roads and protect our environment as well as the nation's 8,000 state legislators and tens of thousands of local officials.

So please, let us help. Let's select a few programs - say, education, transportation and Medicaid - that are managed mostly by Utah's government, but with significant federal dollars and a plethora of onerous federal interventions and regulations.

Let Utah take over these programs entirely. But let us keep our portion of federal taxes Utah residents pay for these programs. The amount would not be difficult to determine. Rather than send this money through the federal bureaucracy, we would retain it and would take full responsibility for education, transportation and Medicaid - minus all federal oversight and regulation.

It's a nice thought but it will never happen. For starters, it's about control*. And the federal government will never yield back what it wrestled away to start with.

Second, it's doesn't go far enough. Instead of the state of Utah, why not leave the money in the pockets of the citizens of Utah?

I will give them credit for the push back against central planning. Even if it is mostly symbolic. More states need to follow their lead.

*By stating this claim, I'm going to put it on the line and try to do something about governmental controls over the population sometime soon.

Hat tip to Becky.