National Versus State Government

This is a simple issue that has caused a great deal of struggle throughout our history starting with the Spirit of '76 and our Revolutionary forefathers' efforts to overthrow the power of a distant king.  That spirit led to our first government, the Articles of Confederation which failed miserably due to a lack of Federal power in the military and through our currency.

With regard to this issue, I feel that the federal government should be required to do three basic things:  

• Handle our defense
• Handle our currency and trade
• Insure that all states adhere to the concept of "equal protection under the law" as outlined in our 14th amendment.

If are federal government insures these three responsibilities and applies the golden rule to every one of its citizens, the states and local governments should be able to handle every other governmental obligation.