We Need States

The United Mexican States, a.k.a Mexico.

quote:

---

The United Mexican States are a federation of thirty-one free and sovereign states, which form a union that exercises a degree of jurisdiction over the Federal District and other territories.

​

Each state has its own constitution, congress, and a judiciary, and its citizens elect by direct voting a governor for a six-year term, and representatives to their respective unicameral state congresses for three-year terms.

​

The Federal District is a special political division that belongs to the federation as a whole and not to a particular state, and as such, has more limited local rule than the nation's states.wiki

---

Doncha think they had a purpose when they were formed? Back when we didn't have instant communcation n'stuff? Why should some Hippies in California get to determine the penalties for the actions of some Ganstas in Chicago? That one's not that convincing when you realize you're only talking about 0.3% of the population.

And there might be a case that they're no longer necessary, but I just wanted to point out that they did have a necessity and a purpose in the past. They're closer and could be affected by them. Aren't criminal penalies a matter of the preference of local communities? I can buy booze in my town until 3 am but I'll get arrested for buying it after 1 am in the town next to mine. My town just voted down having slot machines in bars but two towns over they voted them in. I'm not sure that's true, but I understand some of the sentiment. There's a lot of hunters down here in southern Illinois that hate all the bullshit we've got to go through with the the FOID card that only exists because of all the problems with guns in Chicago. We don't need to have those extra laws down here, but alas, we're in the same state. I'm not sure what a "natural" purpose is. Not that its OK, just that its not a convincing argument against the existence of States. Its negligible.I wonder how many felons can't vote...

But we still kinda need them right now because that's the way everything is set up, regardless of any true "purpose" of them. Okay. So one purpose we might identify is that they're necessary now because we did need them in the past and we can't just erase them off the map. There's a whole lotta stuff we'd have to do to get rid of them. Not that that is a reason to keep them, but as we sit today, we can't do without them. What do you mean by "run at the bottom"? I can accept that.I'm not convinced that we should eliminate the states, but I can see where there could be some benefits to it.Can you think of any disadvantages of eliminating states? Others have pointed out acting as a check against the federal government and the current court systems relying on states. Heh, so we got the Mississippi River between IL and MO. Its legal for passengers to drink alcohol in the car in MO (as long as the driver has had nothing) but that's not legal in IL. So, I've been in a car going to a Cardinals game where all 3 non-drivers are sitting there with a beer in their hand as we're driving over the bridge and then simultaneously crack them open as we cross the MO line. I did think: "wow, that's kinda silly"

Sure, but way back when, they do seem to have been a necessity. If Bumblefuck cannot afford to build the bridge, but the towns on both side rely on transportation through Bumblefuck, and the larger community relies on those two towns succeeding, then some governing body need to get involved to get the job done. It could be the Feds, but maybe not. There's gonna be some limit where things are too small for the Feds and I'm not sure that includes that everything below that as being capable of handling it. I'm not sure its true that anything that can't be run from the top can, in fact, be run from the bottom. Yeah, but if that would fuck a bunch of shit up then, as you later say, we couldn't really fix very quickly. That's why I say that we can't really just erase them. It'd need to be a long and drawn out process to actually work. Although, as you also say, drawing it out would cause it to be denied.

Well, you're right, and I don't really think that we need states, per se. It'd certainly break the monotony!