Not since the days preceding the Civil War have the states been so popular.In Congress's haste to do major dental surgery on what members see as the vast federal mouth, it has determined that most things would be much better if left to the states.The states, the theory goes, are one level closer to The People, the federal government being about as close to The People as Loni is to Burt. Thus, the states are in a better position to know how to handle welfare and health care reform, crime and punishment and drinking water complaints.That seems an inarguable philosophy. And it has been the states that have done the most successful tinkering with budget items like welfare. Partly because they know this, and partly because they know this could end up in a nasty fight, the Republicans in the House want to turn over that responsibility to the governors. That's fine with the governors who are absolutely - and probably correctly - sure that they can do a better job than the Congress. Still, they think the Contract With America is too tightly worded. They want more flexibility to deal with things like school lunches and food stamps.The down side - isn't there always one? - is that states don't necessarily like cities, seeing them as rivals in the whocontrolswhat money game.In Georgia, the legislature not only did nothing for the city of Atlanta before its recent, longawaited recess; in a number of ways, it was patently hostile to the city's interests.For instance, the legislature - the group that put the 'ass' in 'General Assembly' - passed NRAsponsored legislation that overturned tighter gun purchasing ordinances in a number of the bigger Georgia cities. Additonally, the city was shot down on a number of requests it made pursuant to the 1996 Summer Olympics.In fact, the major contribution that the General Assembly made to quality of life in Georgia was naming the peach the state fruit, a process that took so much effort that they had little brain power left with which to tackle the less substantive issues.Now, I've gotta believe that the Georgia legislature is not an anomaly. Except for the fact that most of them talk like hicks, Georgia's legislators are probably not all that different from those in Michigan or Illinois or Arizona. They are largely from small rural areas, and they see Atlanta as Sodom and Gomorrah with tall buildings. Anyway, I wouldn't let most of them pet my dog. I sure don't want them making social policy for me.
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