My Utopian view of a Federal government

I sort of hinted at this in my comment in response to Lyle’s comment here but I’ll elaborate a bit now.

One thing I find lacking in our current form of government is a counter balance to creeping government power. In my Utopian vision the only function of the Federal government would be to protect our union of states from foreign threats (purposely left vague to include regulation of immigration and other issues) and to prosecute state government officials who, under the color of law, violated the U.S. and state constitutions. Hence the Feds would not have it in their power to legislate restrictions on, or enhancements for, individual citizens because that would be the sole domain of the states. This would mean, for example, any state/city/local officials that passed and/or tried to enforce laws against firearms would find themselves being prosecuted for violation of the 2nd Amendment. And any effort to fund roads, education, or social welfare would also be categorically out of the scope of Federal jurisdiction.

If you were to squint and hold your head just right you could say that is what our current U.S. constitution says the current state of affairs is (the constitution doesn’t explicitly say they are to police the state/city/local officials). But of course that’s not current reality. We have a long way to go before reaching utopia. I’m pretty sure even the “Skycycle” I mentioned in my comment will be inadequate to make that leap.

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One thought on “My Utopian view of a Federal government

  1. We need Frank Herbert’s BuSab (Bureau of Sabotage).

    The purpose? To screw government up so that it couldn’t be too invasive.

    To be found in “The Dosadi Experiment” and (I think) “The Jesus Incident” both by Frank Herbert.

    Of course then who reigns in the Saboteurs? In the books, they are self-regulating and assasination is used to keep their own agency in check. You really don’t want the top job in BuSab….

    Rob

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