Relatedly I’m increasingly coming to believe that this reasoning applies to Lincoln, and that we’d be in a much better position if he’d let the Confederacy secede and then imposed strong economic and moral pressure on them to end slavery.
Why? Because that was the beginning of the centralization of power with the federal government?
I think Alexander Hamilton was the beginning, but this seems like a big step. Vassar talks about how, from the civil war onwards, the American legal system needed to be optimized to rule a vassal state while also pretending that they weren’t ruling a vassal state. Can’t remember the specific examples he cited to me but I found it fairly compelling.
Why? Because that was the beginning of the centralization of power with the federal government?
I think Alexander Hamilton was the beginning, but this seems like a big step. Vassar talks about how, from the civil war onwards, the American legal system needed to be optimized to rule a vassal state while also pretending that they weren’t ruling a vassal state. Can’t remember the specific examples he cited to me but I found it fairly compelling.
This certainly seems to be the case with Trump’s (in my understanding) limited ability to govern blue states and cities.