Should We Stop Calling It A 'Federal' Government?
The meaning is changing, but we should lead a change in the wording. It's not a federal government, but a national government. Words matter. We clearly have crossed some line, where the independence of the states was lost.
The definition of federal government is: having or relating to a system of government in which several states form a unity but remain independent in internal affairs. The sovereignty of the states is an essential to any meaningful definition of federalism.
The definition of national government is: of or relating to a nation; common to or characteristic of a whole nation. With unlimited taxation and regulation, there is apparently no limit to the power of the national government. The "national" government now regulates health insurance. The "national" government is pursuing gun control.
We might as well be honest, it’s no longer a federal government, but a national government.
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Mar '12
Re: Should We Stop Calling It A 'Federal' Government?
Meet the new boss who has no interest in preserving the constitutional rights and interests of the old boss, the citizens of this country.
May '10
Re: Should We Stop Calling It A 'Federal' Government?
"National" is indeed more accurate than "federal". I don't expect widespread abandonment of the word, but there's no harm in trying.
Oct '10
Re: Should We Stop Calling It A 'Federal' Government?
Call it what it is: The FERAL Government.
Aug '11
Re: Should We Stop Calling It A 'Federal' Government?
Call it what it was constitutionally designed to be. By retaining the word, we can remind ourselves of what we work to regain.
May '10
Re: Should We Stop Calling It A 'Federal' Government?
I prefer "Imperial Government". Let's call it what it really is. With its thousands and thousands of imperatives we must all follow, its imperious tone and manner, its courtiers crowding the glittering capital seeking favor and advantage, what is Washington but the center of a North American imperium, extending from one sea to the other?
Oct '11
Re: Should We Stop Calling It A 'Federal' Government?
It's absolutely true the national government has become less federal over time, just as the Democrat party has become more and more socialist over the decades- therefore in the spirit of solidarity for your proper naming of things, I think we should also re-name the Democrats the National Socialist Party.
Apr '11
Re: Should We Stop Calling It A 'Federal' Government?
We're not even ruled by the national government but by independent (read unaccountable) government agencies. We're living in a Kafkaesque bureaucratic state.
Jan '11
Re: Should We Stop Calling It A 'Federal' Government?
S i g h. . . But then we won't be able to call them the federales.
I agree that is a national government but also agree with O of M.
Edited on January 10, 2013 at 5:28pmMay '10
Re: Should We Stop Calling It A 'Federal' Government?
Joseph, your analysis is right on. I still prefer to keep calling it a federal government because that describes its intended nature. I use that fact in political debates actually, in defense of the electoral college, for example, and in opposition to Obamacare.
Oct '10
Re: Should We Stop Calling It A 'Federal' Government?
Me too.
Mar '11
Re: Should We Stop Calling It A 'Federal' Government?
And the blame for that falls squarely on the stupid, corrupt citizen who traded his birthright for a government check.
Mar '11
Re: Should We Stop Calling It A 'Federal' Government?
No, by calling it federal we simply delude ourselves into a state of acceptance.
Mar '11
Re: Should We Stop Calling It A 'Federal' Government?
Is it not worth keeping the word in order to draw a distinction between the Constitutional order that we ought to have, and how it was supposed to work, and things as they stand now?
Jan '11
Re: Should We Stop Calling It A 'Federal' Government?
Wouldn't it be better to keep calling it "federal" and then actually making it into one? Yes, I realize that would take decades of political action, but... isn't that the point?
Oct '12
Re: Should We Stop Calling It A 'Federal' Government?
I think we lost that battle. I've heard the battle cry for big government too often, "we need national solutions to national problems."
Oct '10
Re: Should We Stop Calling It A 'Federal' Government?
"I'm not a small government conservative, I'm a big freedom conservative."
Mar '12
Re: Should We Stop Calling It A 'Federal' Government?
Douglas
And the blame for that falls squarely on the stupid, corrupt citizen who traded his birthright for a government check. · 56 minutes ago
I see this a bit differently. People elected representatives that they trusted, and then went along living their lives. Their personal lives were more important than continually checking up on government and they missed those issues that worked against them that their elected representatives voted in favor of while selling them out.
However you are right, we the people (voting and not voting) are ultimately responsible for this debacle. We now have the government we deserve.
Next is to find out if we'll keep it as is.
Sep '12
Re: Should We Stop Calling It A 'Federal' Government?
Good idea. But. The thing to bear in mind here is that to the average American the words 'federal' and 'national' are essentially interchangeable. Tomato-tomahto.
Probably the best way to wake up the folks to the difference, and call out the statists, is to just bring up the question in the title, whenever relevant. That'll make the average person wonder what the difference is, and why it matters.
Jan '11
Re: Should We Stop Calling It A 'Federal' Government?
Joseph Paquette
I think we lost that battle. I've heard the battle cry for big government too often, "we need national solutions to national problems." · 1 hour ago
Yep, we've lost that battle for sure. We haven't, however, yet lost the war itself. I think reality reasserts itself. We'll see.
Mar '11
Re: Should We Stop Calling It A 'Federal' Government?
Sure like the fact that we were founded as a republic vs the current state of being a democracy?