The Articles of Confederation, whose memory has been lost to the annals of history

[johnd83]

It is often forgotten that our beloved Constitution was actually the second attempt at creating the United States. The Articles of Confederation were the first, and are most notable for their abject failure at creating a functional country. In the first version of the US there was a very weak central government that had no ability to tax, did not control the currency, and did not regulate trade between the states. Each state issued its own currency and had its own trade policies which may have included import/export tariffs between states. The central government was mainly responsible for maintaining the army and dealing with foreign relations. Almost all power was in the state governments. For some reason this concept has suddenly taken over our members of congress.

A while ago Rachel Maddow pointed out that somehow the confederate ideas had become popular in mainstream politics again; the idea of a weak central government that doesn't tax and having the states with all the power is older than the civil war. This idea in the modern world gets added in the fact that the states would be controlled by corporations and their wishes, but the general idea is relatively the same. The states themselves would be libertarian in policy. The main problem with these concepts are two: libertarian ideas don't work in a highly interconnected industrial society, and the first attempt for a confederation was an abject failure leading to our current constitution. Libertarian policies "work" in a frontier or subsistence nation. They do not work at all in a modern industrialized society because we depend too much on each other for basic needs like food and shelter. If the trucks stop delivering food we can't just grow our own anymore.

And so, we have the current crop of GOP "tea party" zealots trying to make the federal government "small enough to drown in a bathtub" so we get more "freedom". I agree that the federal government has gotten way too big brother for my taste, but that was mostly the fault of the GOP, at least initially. Ironically their goal is to kill the social safety net and any kind of worker/environmental protection that make it bearable to live in the country and leave the big-brother part untouched.

So this leaves the question, what is the end-game? Something like the articles of confederation? Just ask the EU how well that is working out, as they basically have that system. I really wish I could walk up to these protesters one by one and ask "What do you think of the Articles of Confederation?" Judging by their knowledge of the constitution I am not optimistic.

It is very true that "Those who control the past control the future". This entire situation that is on the verge of taking out our economy and country is really the result of a serious failing in basic history education.

[Wraith20878]

1. A quote by Jefferson Davis

If the Confederacy fails, there should be written on its tombstone: Died of a Theory.

Probably the only thing that Jefferson Davis ever got right. States Rights or a Confederacy would be a bad system to live in during times of peace, in times of war, they are absolute disasters. George Washington leaned toward the Federalists largely because he experienced how infective a confederacy could be during the Revolutionary War. The Confederate States of America faced similar problems. One specific example was the governor of North Carolina sitting on 100,000 new uniforms that could have been used by the confederate army, but he only wanted them used by North Carolina troops. The different currencies would probably be the biggest problem. Imagine going through the hassle of changing money every time you crossed a state line. I have never understood why the idea of a confederacy has gotten popular again.

[Cool Logic]

2. federal government "small enough to drown in a bathtub"

Given that the fedgov is the single largest employer in the nation, that is beyond the realm of reality.

[SteveM]

3. A Democratic Texas legislator had a take on the bathtub metaphor...

As a result of legislation forcing pregnant women, who wanted an abortion, to take a sonogram:

"To shrink government to fit inside a woman's uterus."

http://www.burntorangereport.com/diary/11081/texas-gop-to-shrink-government-to-fit-inside-a-womans-uterus