Where Has The Republican Party Gone?

When I was a kid, I was watching news with my dad and asked a simple question, “What’s the difference between a Democrat and a Republican?”

I remember the answer very clearly. He told me that Democrats believe in a strong federal government and subservient state governments while Republicans believe in strong local government with a subservient federal government. He believes strongly in the former; I have come through life to believe strongly in the latter.

Unfortunately, my party has apparently come to believe strongly in the former as well. Now it seems the GOP leadership is almost indistinguishable from the Democrats when it comes to the size and scope of government. The staff draft of the telecom rewrite makes that painfully clear.

It assumes that local control of the franchising process is problematic. Allowing individual cities to control the means by which video franchises are granted – thereby ensuring the city gets what it needs out of the deal – is thrown out in favor of more federal and state authority.

The House Commerce Committee has made it painfully clear that there is no role for the local government in this process. For a Republican who believes that my community knows best how to serve my neighbors, it is painful to watch the Republicans in Congress wresting local control away from municipalities.

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