by Smokey Briggs

Okay, the election is over, the inaguration is imminent. For now, conservative ideology has eeked out a narrow victory.Perhaps we will take a few more steps back towards a middle ground after 30-plus years of advancing liberal philosophy.

Part of me is relieved to see that our system seems to work – rarely allowing liberal or conservative, Republican or Democrat to maintain power for too long. In my 39 years I have seen the pendulum swing back and forth a little – and so far never too far one way or another to create a permanent rift in the fabric of our country.

I wish I felt confident that this trend will continue into the lifetimes of my children and grandchildren.

I fear it will fail. I fear we are flirting with failure.

I think the root of my fear is in the nature and tenor of our current political battles.The political battles that culminated on Election Day were rarely over elements of fiscal or foreign policy.

Name the issue and you do not have to scrape far past the surface to find that the real issue was a fundamental disagreement over core, cultural beliefs. Conservative vs. Liberal. Christian vs. secular. Firearm owner vs. pacifist. Socialist vs. Capitalist. Describe it anyway you want, the differences in our cultural beliefs are wide and getting wider.

And the cost of losing a political battle such as this one is nearing the point of intolerable for many on both sides of these issues.

Unfortunately, we have created a winner-takes-all system of sorts – at least the winner takes all for the next four or so years.If the people I consider the real loonies in either party ever really got control the consequences would be intolerable to many of us. The consequences of intolerable legislation are war or secession.

We are a nation born of revolution and we faced numerous secession movements in first part of the 1800’s until Abe Lincoln sacrificed 600,000 American lives to make the idea of self-determination a joke. But, we may face it again despite Honest Abe’s blood sacrifice. I would prefer we did not.

And, there is a way out of our current political system that seems to guarantee a continuous march towards winner takes all national politics, secession and war.

Here is the plan. All we need to do is pass a couple of Constitutional Amendments.

The first would specifically state that the Constitution does not apply to the states. Yes, I know, many constitutionally guaranteed rights might be forfeit at the whim of state legislatures.

California could outlaw guns, pea shooters, and manly footwear and I could say nothing.

Texas could outlaw freedom of speech.

New Jersey could create a state church.

I can live with all of that.

The second amendment we need would demand that the powers of the national government be strictly limited to those set out by the Constitution – an idea our Supreme Court threw out years ago. That was how the founding fathers designed our system of government – the Constitution was a framework for a very limited national government that shared power with the states.

That system – what is truly Federalism – gave us wiggle room. It gave us room to be different. It gave us room to hold different ideas and different beliefs. It gave us the ability to be a nation, but not force our different cultural values down each others’ throats. It allowed us to vote with our feet.

After we pass these two amendments I doubt I will ever darken the border of California. So be it. I have confidence that somewhere, there will be a state full of people who think somewhat like me.

True Federalism also gave us a measure of control. Even today, state governments are small enough that individuals really can have an impact.

I do not think many of us really think we have much of a voice in our national government anymore. Under the system devised by Mr. Jefferson and company, we did not need much of a voice in D.C.

That changed in 1865 at Appomattox when Lee surrendered. On that day, the national government asserted its power over the states.The direct result of that is a nation that today virtually seethes with hatred as whichever group holds the reigns tries to force its ideology down the throats of their brothers.

I am afraid that the end result of this winner-take-all system will be a climax that will make losers of us all and our great experiment in self-government.

A return to states’ rights and the cultural flexibility of true federalism might just avoid that climax.