President Schwarzenegger, One Way Or Another

Historian Gar Alperovitz says Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger may have grasped an "essential truth" when he talks about California as a nation state. "The bold proposals that Mr. Schwarzenegger is now making for everything from universal health care to global warming point to the kind of decentralization of power which, once started, could easily shake up America’s fundamental political structure."

The United States, he says, is simply too big for meaningful democracy. Now, Alperovitz says, a new wave of regional devolution could also build on the more than 200 compacts that now allow groups of states to cooperate on environmental, economic, transportation and other problems. He adds:

"Governor Schwarzenegger may not have thought through the implications of continuing to assert forcefully his 'nation-state' ambitions. But he appears to have an expansive sense of the possibilities: this is the governor, after all, who brought Prime Minister Tony Blair of Britain to the Port of Long Beach last year to sign an accord between California and Britain on global warming."

Captain's Quarters blog says Alperovitz is a strict constructionist in disguise. The Captain suggests: "End all of the federal programs that exist outside the powers granted to the central government in the Constitution and force the states to assume responsibility for them instead."

(Photo: Shawn Thew / EPA)