Why I am Hopeful
This is not a political journal. However, there are rare times when current events give us a responsibility to speak out. This post represents my personal views, not those of our company or its employees. —Jan
In the current situation, it can be easy to feel discouraged. Whatever our political opinions, the wholesale dismantling of the federal government, the seemingly random imposition of taxes on imports, the threat of taking over foreign countries—those are not things presidents can do unilaterally. And yet it seems there is nothing to stop them. In situations like this, it’s useful to assess our strengths, not just our weaknesses. It’s important to think outside the box. Unorthodox problems require unorthodox solutions. That got me thinking…
More than once, the president has threatened to withhold federal funding from states that have policies (or leaders) he does not like. After the fires in Los Angeles, the president threatened to withhold disaster aid from California. More recently, he excoriated the governor of Maine: “You’re not going to get federal funding.” Our response to this might be: “Who is paying for the federal government anyhow?”
This is relevant not just for federal funding to states like California and Maine, but also when it comes to canceling programs and shuttering agencies that are funded with our money, as allocated by our elected officials in Congress.*
In the past, upon taking office, presidents reached out, not just to their followers, but to all citizens. In essence, they said: “Half of you didn’t vote for me, but I will represent all of you.” There was a practical reason for this—beyond bringing the country together. The unspoken part of the above sentence was: “…because we need all of you to pay for whatever we plan to do.”
It’s important to remember: Nothing the federal government does would be possible without the people and states that didn’t vote for the party currently in power. That is true no matter which party rules at any given time, but it’s especially true right now. ‘Opposition’ states are bankrolling the federal government—most pay more in federal taxes than they get in return in federal spending. Far from being ‘woke and broke,’ most of these states are doing quite well in pure dollar terms… Perhaps we should quote our vice president and ask: “Have you ever said ‘Thank you’?” In fact, we want more than just thanks: We want a seat at the table when it comes to deciding how this money is spent.
“No taxation without representation!” That is what Americans told a previous king who tried to collect taxes without responding to their concerns. Unless those in power remember this, history may well repeat itself.
What would that look like? States may start working together—something like the ‘Cascadia’ region on the West coast and equivalents in other parts of the country—to replace federal funding with state/regional funding. Disaster relief, medical research, and weather forecasting does not need to be centralized by the federal government. To pay for this, tax cuts at the federal level could be offset by state income taxes. As the name says, the United States have always been a union of states… but any union requires ‘give’ and ‘take’—and not just ‘take.’ That’s just one idea…
The important message is that we aren’t powerless in all of this. The world is changing, and we’ll figure out ways to adapt. It may require thinking outside the box, but I am optimistic we’ll overcome this challenge, too.
*These allocations can be changed through the legislative process, but presidents aren’t allowed to spend our money just any way they see fit.
