You can say that again. When it comes down to it, most people vote for local politicians based on what gets done for them locally. This is why Daschle keeps winning South Dakota when it goes so firmly Republican in presidential elections.

I think the country would be a better place if more power was local instead of centralized in Washington D.C. Jerry Pournelle once said that when he was young, it was more important who your mayor was than who your national Senator was. I like things run on a local level. I voted to increase my own taxes (believe it or not) a couple of years ago to build onto our local schools. They made a good case for it, and I got to see the numbers. I supported a hiking trail here built with city tax dollars. I don't so much mind my tax dollars being spent close to home where I can drop by and say hi to them once in a while.

There were abuses when states had more rights than the Federal government, to be sure, but all in all I think such things would have settled out over time anyway, without absorbing all the power into Washington.

BTW, I'm not so sure I'd be as proud of a long tradition of election fraud as the Democrats in this commentary seem to be.