We’re all federalists now. Well, sort of. New polling shows Democrats have undergone a change of heart about federal power.
When Hillary Clinton had the White House on lock last July, 62 percent of Democrats told Gallup they thought power should be placed in the federal government. A month after President Trump took the job, according to a Huffington Post poll, that number dropped to 27 percent.
Though suddenly opposed to the centralization of power, the party faithful won’t have many safe havens to run to in the states. In the last eight years, Republicans have seized complete control of half the states.
If you’re a Democrat looking for bluer state government, you’ve got to book a ticket to the coasts. The party only enjoys complete control of six states and they’re all on either the West or East coast. Still, the map might be the least of the Left’s worries.
Over the past eight years, perhaps thinking that the good times would never end, Democrats amassed more and more power in the federal government and its administrative agencies. Now there’s no going back. Even disgraced New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer knows that.
“Over the past decade, we’ve argued in court in favor of administrative latitude in decision-making. Now, by asserting the primacy of states’ rights, we’re flipping that argument on its head,” Spitzer recently wrote in the New Republic.
“How do we go back to all these cases,” Spitzer asks, “where we’ve been arguing for executive discretion and say, ‘Oops, we didn’t mean it?'”
Congratulations Democrats, you’ve armed Donald Trump.
Philip Wegmann is a commentary writer for the Washington Examiner.
