Federal system needs to be fixed

During the past 200 years, the scope and reach of federal power has expanded way beyond the intent of the Framers. Reasons: depressions and wars (both hot and cold), which always seem to expand government; a Supreme Court that has consistently favored expanding the scope and reach of federal power; and amendments to the Constitution -- especially the 16th, giving the federal government the power to tax income, and the 17th, providing for the direct election of senators thereby removing states from direct participation in federal policy-making.

The emergence of a strong national government has not been al negative. The wise exercise of federal power has led to many benefits, including a "common market" that permits the free movement of people, goods, capital and information, giving us the world's largest, strongest, most innovative and most competitive economy. A strong federal government has also given us the world's best intermodal transportation system, a defense establishment good enough to win three major wars this century -- including the defeat of fascism and communism -- a generally constructive and pro-human rights approach to foreign policy, and the protection and expansion of civil rights and liberties at home.

Despite these achievements, however, there are many problems and adverse trends. First, the federal government has badly mismanaged the institutions of government. It has failed to adopt commonly accepted standards of public accounting and fiscal management, it has failed to deploy new telecomputing technologies to simplify transactions and improve public management and the delivery of public services; it has resisted the change and innovation in its own operations that have created new opportunities and new efficiencies in every other area of American life. It has not lived by the environmental rules and regulations it has imposed on the rest of society -- as shown by the environmental disasters uncovered on military bases shut down by the Base Realignment and Closure Commission.

Second, the federal government has mismanaged intergovernmental relations. It has overreached by preempting state government authority with unfunded mandates and one-size-fits-all rules and regulations. It treats states as administrative units or, even worse, as just another special interest.

Third, the federal government has been irresponsible in its taxing and spending authority. It has not balanced its budget for 27 years -- and only eight times since the end of World War II -- and has run up a $4 trillion-plus national debt. It has greatly increased taxes on the income of families since the end of WW II and it has used its power to mandate spending to expand the role of the public sector in the lives of all Americans, forcing major increases in taxing and spending by state and local governments.

Fourth, the federal government has resisted efforts to relimit its powers and rebalance the federal system. Over the past 60 years, federal courts have turned back legal approaches by state and local governments to rein in federal power, admonishing them to look to political remedies -- i.e., to Congress and the executive branch -- to relimit federal power and rebalance the federal system. Yet Congress and the executive branch continue to defeat proposals for political reform. that enjoy wide and deep support among the American people -- such as the Balanced Budget Amendment, term limits and tax reform.

No matter who paints the picture, the image is the same: Things are out of whack and not working in the American system of government. Things need to be fixed.