Once upon a time, the idea of living off the government dole was abhorrent to Americans. Someone taking a handout from the government was a sign of either tough times, a temporary condition, or laziness which is more of a permanent thing. Luckily, the State has done a good job of changing that attitude, didn’t they. Just yesterday, the Governor of South Carolina was forced by the State Supreme Court to take federal stimulus money. It’s not a good sign.
Now, Governor Sanford has made a lot of poor assumptions. Primarily, that the state legislature overriding his veto is evidence that there’s only one effective branch of government. Well, not quite. Veto override is actually the legislature’s check on the executive. Like it or not, it’s just how the system works.
What’s the deeper problem however is that the veto got overridden. This is a Republican dominated state legislature. Aren’t Republicans supposed to be about smaller government? Aren’t they supposed to be about state control versus federal control? We have now taken the idea of a government handout from a shameful act to the work of legislative bodies throughout the nation.
So long as states take the money, they’ll have to take the strings that come with it. They’ll be beholden to Congress for whatever whim Congress comes up with. That’s how we got stuck with seat belt laws and our current speed limit. That’s how No Child Left Behind got saddled on us as well.
Make no mistake, those strings will increase with time. Taking money from Uncle Sam is the worst thing a state can do, and yet they’re all taking that stimulus money. What’s worse is, most of the Republicans in these states campaigned against similar thought processes. More than one Democrat did as well. With their own betrayal, they lead their states down a dark path which it will take years to recover from.
Ain’t it a shame the Tenth Amendment is nothing more than words on a page?
