The US government has done tremendous good for its citizens and the entire world. Sometimes, though, the federal government gets it wrong,….and that includes the Supreme Court. Certain Supreme Court decisions (Dred Scott, Plessy, Korematsu…), have allowed travesties like slavery, segregation, and internment camps to be the law of the land. Thankfully, states have not always complied with these federal actions
Do the states get it wrong sometimes as well? Of course. The Jim Crow laws through the 1960s were a stain on the country. Yet, they were endorsed by the federal government…including the Supreme Court.
Any government has a monopoly to potentially oppress its people. The bigger and more centralized the government, the larger the oppression. The great atrocities of the last century in Germany, Russia, China, and Cambodia have unquestionably been at the hand of massive centralized states.
At least when a state makes a mistake, we have the ability to influence our representatives, replace them, or move to another state as a last resort. We have no such options with the federal government.
