Decentralizing the federal government

By Bruce Walker
web posted October 13, 2003

I have proposed creating a constitutional convention by action of
state legislatures and then having this constitutional convention
remain in session indefinitely, with state legislatures changing
representation as the composition of the legislatures changes. I
also proposed having the constitutional convention not meet in
come central location, but rather convene at the same time in fifty
different states.

Technology allows government to move much closer to the
people than it is now. The federal government itself could be
largely decentralized, if it wished. The people might well want to
wish for just that.

The District of Columbia does not need to house Congress, the
President or the Supreme Court. The Constitution allows, but
does not require, a federal district. Moreover, the Constitution
does not prevent this federal district from changing as the
Republic evolves.

Having the federal executive, legislative and judicial branches of
government in a single city in the northeastern shore of the nation
warps the perspective of policymakers and isolates those
policymakers over time from the real interests of the people that
they represent. One reason people do not run for office is the
disruption that living in Washington cause to their families, their
business and their lives.

Why not change all this? The two houses of Congress have the
explicit constitutional power to set up their own rules and
procedures. This power is largely immune to the obstructionism
that applies to other federal reforms.

The House of Representatives could adopt rules and procedures
that not only allow this body to conduct its business remotely,
with the members able to participate in debating and in voting
from their own district, but the House of Representatives could
adopt rules and procedures that required that members only be
allowed to debate, make parliamentary motions and vote while
the member is in his home district. The Senate could do the
same.

Thank C-Span for pointing out how often congressmen and
senators give speeches to empty chambers. Is there any real and
serious reason today why the business of legislation could not be
conducted like every other business in the world - through
advanced telecommunication systems?

Why stop with Congress? Adopt rules that require the Supreme
Court to meet in a place more centrally located to most
Americans. Perhaps, even, create a National Court of Appeals,
which authority to hear almost all types of federal appeals before
those reach the Supreme Court, and have that body specifically
designated to be housed in Peoria.

The agencies of the federal government could also be moved to
different locations in the country, including those federal
regulatory agencies who do so much governing in the shadows.
The citizens of the District of Columbia have been complaining
for years about not having voting members in Congress. So why
not cede that district back to Maryland, and let Washingtonians
exercise the common rights of all state citizens as citizens of
Maryland?

The impact of these changes are almost impossible to overstate.
What plagues us as much as federalism is centralism. Federalism
that genuinely reflected the myriad cultural, economic and social
values of America would become quickly more sensible and less
intrusive. Americans generally would begin to have much more
practical influence over the federal government.

Lobbyists need to be able to congregate and to bid for the
favors of legislative staffers, middle level bureaucrats, and
nameless regulators. Spread the federal government out so that it
dwells among the people, in small towns as well as big cities, in
the South and West as well as the Northeast, and suddenly that
government becomes much more a government of America and
much less a government of Washington.

Bruce Walker is a senior writer with Enter Stage Right. He is
also a frequent contributor to The Pragmatist and The Common
Conservative.

Enter Stage Right -- http://www.enterstageright.com