Washington continues to be a feckless, impotent, self-serving, out-of-control bureaucracy. The fiscal cliff-sequestration debacle is a glaring example.
Sequestration, or automatic Draconian spending cuts, was to take effect Jan. 1 if lawmakers failed to address the mounting fiscal problems by then. Of course, nothing happened. They were too occupied with the elections, as they will always be, and opted for a three-month reprieve. The electorate voted for status quo, and that is precisely what it's getting.
The federal government is and will remain the source of most of America's major problems. It cranks out mountains of legislation that encroach on our lives while abandoning its true responsibilities to the nation.
The salvation of America lies with recapturing much of the autonomy the federal government has usurped from the states through fiscal intimidation and bad policy over the decades and reverting to home rule. Myriad policies, including the environment, education, health care, energy, and yes, gun ownership, should be determined at the state level. Washington wants us to forget that the states created the federal government, not the reverse.
Perhaps hope is in the offing. Governors, primarily Republicans, are pushing back by addressing federally abandoned illegal immigration problems, standing up to President Barack Obama-supported public sector unions, refusing participation in mandated heath exchanges and exercising more effective fiscal policies. Let's hope they have the tenacity to continue and expand the battle. They will if we keep the pressure on them.
Don Maresca
Sun City Hilton Head
