Earlier this week, we pointed out that, under President Barack Obama, the dependency of the states on the federal government has reached a threatening and historic high. As USA Today sums it up, “In a historic first, Uncle Sam has supplanted sales, property and income taxes as the biggest source of revenue for state and local governments.” There are lots of reasons to oppose this, ranging from its inevitable inefficiency to the unaccountability it fosters. But the most basic reason of all was one President Reagan understood well: the U.S. …
Addressing Congress on the State of the Union, President Ronald Reagan told the American people in 1982: Our citizens feel they’ve lost control of even the most basic decisions made about the essential services of government, such as schools, welfare, roads, and even garbage collection. And they’re right. A maze of interlocking jurisdictions and levels of government confronts average citizens in trying to solve even the simplest of problems. They don’t know where to turn for answers, who to hold accountable, who to praise, who to blame, who to vote …
The United States is ready for the next Hurricane Katrina according to Admiral Thad Allen, the former director of the FEMA response effort in New Orleans. In an article put out by Bloomberg, Allen was quoted saying “there is nothing right now that inhibits an effective response.” However others seem to disagree. Craig Fugate, director of Florida’s Division of Emergency Management, and Heritage’s Dr. James Carafano see that more still needs to be done. Policies and procedures still need to be reassessed and improved, plus Congressional meddling and their practices …
Maryland announced this week that the state government plans to create a single communications system for all of the state’s first responders, as noted in a recent article in The Examiner. Ensuring effective emergency communications remains an important issue on the nation’s homeland security to do list. A Heritage paper I wrote last year with Richard Weitz about improving emergency communications discussed the need and necessary measures for improved communication among emergency responders. In its final report, the 9/11 Commission stated that “the inability to communicate was a critical element …
In what can only be described as a rare occurrence, two events occurred that show there is still hope when it comes to disaster management in the United States. The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday that California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has proposed placing an insurance surcharge on every California home and business that would raise roughly $130 million each year to pay for wildland firefighting. Due to the number of wildland fires that have occurred in California over the last year and the ever-increasing number of Californians who build homes …
What do the Bridge to Nowhere, the highway bill, the “subsidies for millionaires” farm bill and our crippling entitlement crisis have in common? They are all examples of the corrupt governance that is guaranteed to happen when the federal government takes over responsibilities best left to the states. In each of these cases (transportation funding, agriculture policy and health care), massive federal government spending and aid to states in the form of matching grants have all but drowned out the ability of state and local governments to set their own …
