“Why are states rights a dog whistle?”

Read the Atwater quote. It’s not racist as a concept, only when a conservative says it. You seem too bright not to understand the meaning of dog whistle.

“This article is based on some unstated view you have of how the divided states political system should work. Do you have a pragmatic proposal on that?”

It’s not a pragmatic solutions piece. It’s a warning that whatever solution might be out there, conservative politics and theory is destructive to whatever it might be. And ousting Tr*mp is putting a bandage on a bullet wound.

“I live in CA. What does CA need the federal government for? As far as I can see only three things.

A. National defense

B. Interstates rules -ie the $

C. International relations”

There are a great many things only the federal government can do, dealing with natural disasters and pandemics being two recent examples. Is there too much government? Of course. Human nature is what it is.

“Money corrupts. The federal government has the biggest pot of money in the world that less than 600 people control.”

Absolutely, and it’s one of the reasons I vote Democratic — even though they are perpetually disappointing, at least they aren’t actively trying to ruin the country.

The liberal philosophy of decreasing wealth inequality is the key. The conservative dream is maximum inequality, giving all the money to a handful of billionaires and letting them run the country. The government is at least a semi-transparent operation over which we have some nominal control. Oligarchs fail both tests entirely.

“Move taxation back to the states and let state governments decide what part of the federal government to fund.”

Lordy, that would be unwieldy. I’m not entirely opposed, with a caveat: low-tax states should be ineligible for federal benefits. You get these Southern states bragging about their “business friendly” tax policies, then go running to the feds when a hurricane blows everything down.

“Politics becomes more accountable the more local it is. States and communities are the better place to put most of the power.”

Yet another reason to vote left. Democrats have some notion of democracy. The right’s game is to move things to the states where it’s cheaper and easier for their oligarchs to buy candidates.

“State rights aren’t a dog whistle, it’s the only way the country can stay united with out going back to use force to ram one sides views down the throats of the other.”

You talk like a rightwinger with all the talk of “force” and the weird and disturbing homoeroticism of shoving things down throats.

What do you mean “without going back to”? Nothing’s really different, except the right is getting closer to its goal of authoritarian one-party governance that will reserve things being rammed down throats to people they don’t like.

Another way to put it is that democracy means both sides lose sometimes, so everybody has to put up with some things they don’t like. That’s being an adult.

But again, this is another reason I’m a liberal. Democrats want to regulate the boardroom. Republicans want to regulate the bedroom and the rest of our private lives. Theocracy is not my cup of tea.

“Maybe that’s what you want.”

Ooh, couldn’t get out without an insult. If you aren’t a conservative/Libertarian, you should watch this kind of crap. It’s unpleasant.