When one examines the key contents of the House version of Trumpcare, what appears as one of the major approaches to providing healthcare is that much power/discrimination is delegated to the individual states.
This may be fine (doubtful), but let us assume that this component of Trumpcare will be present if the current House bill remains unchanged.
Using this template of providing healthcare via the individual states, maybe there are at least two other areas of government policy which could benefit by using the “states know best” approach:
First, we have the issue of civil rights. Using the Trumpcare model, could it not be argued that, for example, Georgia knows far better than, say, Wyoming in addressing this topic since Georgia has been been dealing with the civil rights issue far longer and with far more minorities?
Next, how about national defense? Why should the states with no foreign border or maritime shores (consider Missouri, Iowa or Kansas, for example) be burdened with paying for the ground forces component of the national defense budget when there is very little chance of these states being invaded by Canada from the north or Mexico from the south?
The same rationale goes for the coastal states. If ISIS or the Taliban decides to invade the U.S. via amphibious attack, should not those coastal states, not those of the midwest, be responsible for their own defense? After all, following the Trumpcare model, would not these states know far more as to how to defend their territories than those states a thousand or so miles inland?
It is acknowledged that, per the Constitution, the federal government is responsible for national defense. But, in Trumpland, just as President Trump swears that Mexico WILL pay for his wall, is it not possible that, as the ultimate dealmaker, President Trump will convince the Congress and the individual states that the Constitution should be amended?
Please do not write off the argument of above since in the spirit of the popular TV show of years ago, “Father Knows Best,“ in Trumpland, the “states know best.“
Wade J. Williams
Peachtree City, Ga.
