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eriknelson65
Posts: 1
Joined: Tue May 29, 2012 2:51 pm
First Name: Erik
Stance: Undecided

State versus Federal power

Post by eriknelson65 »

Greetings all. I found this forum when searching Wikipedia on the number of people represented by each Representative in Congress, and the ideas here intrigue me.

I personally feel that the way to reach the goal of more effective representation of the people by the government is not to increase the size of the Federal government, but rather to drastically reduce it (particularly the Executive Branch), and for cities/counties (parishes)/states to take on a greater role. We as a nation fought a war over this 150 years ago, and while it was good for the future of the United States that the Union was preserved, I feel that this set us on the path of centralization and reduced representation, where we are today.

Can anyone recommend any reading material related to this idea? Also, I would be interested in hearing how the members of this forum feel regarding how a re-balancing of Federal/non-Federal responsibilities and funding would impact the mission of TTO.

Regards,

-Erik
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JEQuidam
Posts: 221
Joined: Sun Apr 26, 2009 8:45 pm
First Name: Jeff
Stance: Pro-Enlargement
Location: Dunwoody, Georgia
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Re: State versus Federal power

Post by JEQuidam »

eriknelson65 wrote:I personally feel that the way to reach the goal of more effective representation of the people by the government is not to increase the size of the Federal government, but rather to drastically reduce it (particularly the Executive Branch), and for cities/counties (parishes)/states to take on a greater role.
I agree. And the data shows that increasing the number of Representatives actually reduces the size of government! You should read "Taking Back Our Republic" which can be downloaded from:
http://www.Thirty-Thousand.org/document ... mphlet.pdf.
banleystuck
Posts: 5
Joined: Sat Jan 14, 2012 1:13 am
First Name: Stanley
Stance: Pro-Enlargement

Re: State versus Federal power

Post by banleystuck »

Eric,

Increasing representation in your federal government does not lead to centralized power. It leads to increased involvement of the people in the political process, and would of course lead to local solutions, and increased importance of local governments.

Right now we have a federal government that is infinitely more powerful than the one our founders controlled, and yet we only have only 536 (house, senate, president) people who control it.

We live in a republic, or rather, what was set up as a republican government. There was great wisdom in this. Unfortunately, we have strayed.

Now those 536 individuals control how about $3,795,270300,000 is spent each year. That is $8.75 billion per representative per year, they control.

Since the congressional districts are so large. Your representative can likely vote anyway he wants on an issue, and not really suffer politcal consequence. Except voting to cut spending. Also elections are currently so expensive (over $1.4Million), that only celebreties with high name recognition can get elected. We need people who run on issues, and are involved in government because they love their country, not career politicians (incumbency * about 97%).

Consider the consequences and merits of having a House of REPRESENTATIVES. Read the above mentioned pamphlet please. Glad you found the site. Please continue to comment.
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