States Should Tell Feds To Take A Hike
by Big Dog on May 8, 2014 at 18:42 Commentary, Political
The federal government holds states hostage to federal tax dollars. It works like this; the states collect tax money and send it to the federal government, then the federal government doles it out to the states.
This paradigm makes states dependent on the federal government and leads to coercion on the part of the feds.
If the federal government makes the speed limit 55 mph then any state that does not comply has highway funds withheld. If a state does not do what the federal government dictates with regard to health care then Medicare funding is withheld.
See how it works? They take money from the states and then force the states to comply in order to get any of it back.
The newest case of extortion comes from the federal government in regard to the state of Indiana. That state had the audacity to drop the Common Core standards. For those unfamiliar Common Core is billed as a way to teach for better results when it is really a mumbled mess that dumbs down students and teaches them to be dependent on government. Common Core will not prepare students to compete in the modern world. Common Core is indoctrination to the left’s view of things.
The federal government has told Indiana that it must prove that its standards are just as challenging as Common Core or its federal funding will be in jeopardy. It should not be hard to show that any program is just as (or more) challenging than Common Core but since the feds will decide there is no telling if Indiana will make the grade (pun intended).
[note]The only challenging thing about Common Core is making sense of it.[/note]
So Indiana faces losing federal funding for education. Considering there should be no federal funding of education (not in the Constitution as a federal concern) perhaps it is time for Indiana to take a stand.
Ideally the state would stop sending all federal taxes collected to the federal government until the feds left the state alone but that would cause problems for the citizens who pay those taxes.
[note]Technically, employers collect federal taxes on income and send them to the IRS so states would have to force employers to send the taxes to the state for disbursement. Might be a difficult task but it could be done. Any federal tax the state collects directly and sends to the feds could easily be withheld.[/note]
Perhaps Indiana should determine what amount of money the feds have been “providing” for education, determine what percentage that is of the total taxes paid in, and deduct that percentage from the amount sent to DC.
Indiana can tell the feds that the state is withholding the funds and will use them as it sees fit.
The same could be done by states that are forced to comply with some transportation related federal mandate (like speed limits). The state could collect the federal gas tax and hold it in escrow until the feds capitulate.
Force the federal government to stay in its own lane and stop infringing on the states.
Perhaps all states should start withholding the percentage sent to the federal government for unconstitutional programs and spend the money internally without it having to pass through DC. The Tenth Amendment is there for a reason and until states start pushing back the federal government will continue to infringe.
Time to castrate the federal government and bring the power back where it belongs; to the states or the people respectively…
Cave canem!
Never surrender, never submit.
Tags: common core, constitution, education, indiana, lies, state's rights