“The existence of quasi-sovereign states also perpetuates the original sins of our nation. State-level autonomy is part of a centuries-old compromise to keep slaveholders in the union — a compromise that, when push came to shove, didn’t even keep slaveholders in the Union! Hence the model is a failure even in terms of its shockingly amoral original purpose, one that bakes the ideology of settler colonialism into our constitutional order. The practical effect of state autonomy has been to enable corruption and racial oppression.”

The above paragraph comes from a blog post by Adam Kotsko about abolishing the states. Two other great posts by Kotsko on related subjects here and here.

Tags:adam kotskolocal governmentspoliticsstates