The prediction of 2010 is that states will become much more integral to governance, management and rebuilding the economy.
Go figure! Who would have thought that the rhetoric of the Tea Party loonies would be laden with gems? Those spin doctors have always been better than ours. So why not hijack "their" rhetoric, strip away the absurdities, create new "hybrid" state and federal programs, and make it the new Democratic message? Borrow from their spin doctors and use it for good! We can do this because we need good solid social programs that retrain the work force. We need jobs. We need affordable health care. We need local finance -- like community banking. We need incentives for companies that retool workers for the new economy. We need to give control back to the people who can reclaim their dignity through their day-to-day lives.
And we all know that the system is broken at the national level just watch the squabbling going on in Congress. We also know that disproportionate monies are extracted from the large voting states leaving them bereft with broken roads, broken schools and broken dreams. Why should senators from minuscule states in Podunk determine the future for the majority of folks that vote? Kibosh the nudniks, and take away their pork barrel spending that comes off the backs of the bigger, and more densely populated states. It is time to say no!
This is pretty cool, and it seems that even our President may be onto it. At the televised Health Care Summit, he made a big, bold move to co-opt many of the most conservative senators as he engaged them in a dialogue about state-run health care exchanges to level the playing field on health care insurance premiums. Who would have thought that he would commend the likes of Senator Tom Coburn? Well he did when he silenced others with a stare. Aha, if he keeps this up he may win big time by installing a "hybrid" of federal legislation mixed with state-run solutions for health care reform.
OMG, he may have found the magic elixir to squash the discontent pervading the psyche of the people. Who would have thought that the secret mission of the right wingers could bring it home! If the President and his minions do not stumble, fall or fight with one another because they can, this may be the very strategy that is the hope of rebuilding America. Admittedly, this is not a plea for succession from the Union by the big states that take their toys and go home; rather it is a plan to revitalize a broken system that has gotten too "big' and is failing. Consider this breed of "hybrid" solutions that are not made by Toyota or Honda.
This is the first of a series of articles on "hybrid" solutions that harness the power of the states with a mix of federal legislation.