Author Description

The State of the Union is divided. Urban versus rural. Red State vs. Blue state. Everyone agrees that the rancor in our political debates is unsustainable, yet few admit that forcing their own political agenda on others might be part of the problem. What if we're thinking about it all wrong? What if factions and divisions are inevitable among people living in different parts of the country, and the solution has been right there in the Constitution since the beginning? Liberal and conservative states alike are re-discovering the virtues of Federalism, in which states serve as the testing grounds for different policies, and citizens "vote with their feet" if they don't like what their government is doing with their tax dollars. These interviews explore the federalist revival taking place across the country from eight difference perspectives. A house divided cannot stand, but a healthy competition among the United States can make America more dynamic and prosperous than ever before.The founders set out to establish a form of government that balanced powers not only among the three branches of government, but also among Federal, state and local government. The Constitution clearly specifies those few and strictly enumerated powers granted to the Federal Government, while the rest of the powers are "reserved to the states and to the people." Yet somehow, since our country's founding, Federal government has seized those powers that were reserved to the states (and the people) and grown into the Leviathan we know it as today. In a new series of edited and condensed interviews, Bob and his guests explore the history behind our federalist form of government, and how the states are a silver lining on an otherwise bleak landscape. Featuring professors, former senators and sitting state Supreme Court judges, *Power to the States* argues that there are reasons to be optimistic about libertarian reforms in the United States... if you know where to look.