Old Federalism Still Has Worldwide Answers

A new Pew Research Center study comparing Canada and the U.S. finds that region and state are more important than nationality in defining the values of the peoples of both countries, an old truth explaining why both successful nations are federal rather than unitary in their constitutional design and practice.

Northeastern Yankees and Western “left coast” Americans had much more in common with Southeastern Canadians than they did with U.S. Southerners--on values such as religion, family and traditional sex roles. Other data show a similar pattern on issues of limited government and the free market, with Eastern Canadians and Eastern and Western Americans more liberal and Mid Western and Southern Americans and Mountain Canadians more conservative. That is why federalism still counts in North America and why regional governments are critical to devise unique local solutions to satisfy the greatest number of citizens possible in both countries.

Federalism could help the rest of the world to become successful too. American Iraqi Coalition Authority chief, L. Paul Bremer, told me on my recent visit that nothing was more important for the future of that nation than the creation of a working federal system. Iraq is really not a single country. It is at least three. Non-Arab Kurds dominate the northern part of the country and have had de facto autonomy under the protection of the American no-fly zone for years. Arab Sunni Muslims people the middle west but have always dominated the whole country by expertise and force. Arab Shi’a Muslims, however, are a majority of the population and are determined to obtain total control over their traditional oppressors in both north and center. Therefore, the majority is, so far, unalterably opposed to Bremer’s federalism plan, which is the only one that could possibly hold the different nations of Iraq together other than brute force

Even the European Union faces a related problem. France, Germany and Belgium are determined to make its government more centralized because they are confident they will dominate it and determine its values. At a recent meeting in the Brussels headquarters, I observed many representatives celebrating the newly released draft European Constitution that would break the federal principle of equal state representation. Polish and Spanish delegates, however, told me that they would not accept this loss of their sovereignty. Just last week, negotiations broke down and the EU will remain confederal, at least for now.

The issue also intruded into a recent public administration mission to Rome. Italian Senate President Marcello Pera explained how his institution was soon to undergo a radical change. Today, as in most of Europe, the national government is highly centralized and the Senate is elected on precisely the same representational base as the lower house, direct representation of the people. In the future, its Senate will be selected by Italy’s new regional governments on a more equal state basis, closer to the American federal model. At the same time, pro-American Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi is pursuing a revolutionary decentralization of power to local governments, who do so much of the actual administration in both the U.S. and Italy.

Somehow, old federalism is undergoing a revival in the world as it becomes obvious that only it can allow diversity with freedom. Perversely, the idea is declining at the governmental level in federalism’s U.S. birthplace, although polls demonstrate its continuing support among the people. Federalism will likely become more popular among politicians too. As our national government continues to expand benefits for elderly entitlements, very much including the $7 trillion unfunded liability just adopted for the new Medicare prescription drug benefit, national revenue will increasingly be sucked in to subsidize seniors, drying up funds for all other national programs. As a result, most of U.S. government will necessarily shift downwards to state and local governments or the private sector for all other services. All the quirky Supreme Court decisions in the world will not be able to override this fiscal reality over the longer term.

In fact, the national state is drowning in bureaucratic red tape everywhere. Italy acted only because the national government became immobilized by its suffocating multiplicity of detailed rules for every private act that no citizen could comply even if they wanted to—which they did not. Its national government ceased being obeyed. As reasonable people worldwide seek solutions, they will inevitably be drawn to the Founders’ Federalist Papers for a solution that will work. Those who are wise enough to adopt those principles will prosper and those who do not will not—including decision-makers in the United States of America.

Donald Devine, former director of the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, is editor of ConservativeBattleline.com, the American Conservative Union Foundation’s new journal of opinion.