Dissolving the Federal Leviathan: A Call For State Sovereignty
The principles of non-interventionism abroad—rooted in the non-aggression principle, individual liberty, and the futility of central planning—apply with equal force at home.
Just as Ludwig von Mises, Friedrich Hayek, Frédéric Bastiat, Hans-Hermann Hoppe, and Ron Paul have demonstrated that foreign intervention manufactures enemies, perpetuates war for elite profit, and violates sovereignty under the guise of humanitarianism or security, so too does the U.S. federal government impose domestic imperialism on the states.
The federal apparatus is not a guardian of freedom; it is a coercive monopoly that thrives on division, incentivizes corruption, erodes accountability, and prevents genuine self-determination.
The solution is radical but logically inescapable: dissolve the federal government and restore full sovereignty to the states.
This is not anarchy or chaos. It is the extension of classical liberal ideals to their consistent conclusion: voluntary association, free exit, and competition among jurisdictions.
As Murray Rothbard argued, secession is the ultimate check on power; Lysander Spooner dismissed the Constitution as a “parchment barrier” that failed to bind government. The federal government sold its soul at the founding, and it is time to reclaim liberty.
The Founding Betrayal: From Compromise to Corruption
At the Constitutional Convention, productive states like Virginia were coerced into assuming the war debts of less responsible ones, such as Massachusetts.
Alexander Hamilton’s national debt scheme sounded like unity: pool the burdens, issue bonds, create a central credit. But it was the original sin—a transfer of wealth from the frugal to the profligate, justified as “keeping the union together".
This opened the floodgates to endless federal extraction: subsidies, pork, bailouts, and wars funded by taxing the productive to enrich the connected.
As Mises observed in his analysis of incentives, centralized power inevitably breeds corruption.
When one entity controls the purse for fifty diverse peoples, it rewards waste, division, and unethical action. Politicians pit states against each other—red vs. blue, urban vs. rural—to justify more control.
The federal government does not unite; it divides to conquer, manufacturing crises (wars abroad, culture wars at home) to expand its reach. Fear is its currency: without a common enemy or moral panic, why tolerate the theft?
Domestic Imperialism: The Federal Parallel to Foreign Intervention
The arguments against intervening in Venezuela, Cuba, or Yemen apply verbatim to Washington intervening in Texas, Utah, or California.
Sanctions on a rogue regime harm civilians while entrenching the dictator; federal mandates harm states while entrenching bureaucrats.
Just as “humanitarian” bombs create power vacuums and blowback abroad, federal decrees create resentment and dependency at home.
Hoppe’s non-aggression principle forbids initiation of force. Yet the federal government initiates it daily: forcing Utah to fund New York’s policies, California to comply with Texas’s preferences via Supreme Court fiat, or any state to subsidize another’s folly.
This is collectivist logic—punishing millions for the “sins” of a few elites—identical to sanctioning an entire nation for its leader’s crimes.
Hayek’s “fatal conceit” warns that central planners cannot orchestrate outcomes without distorting knowledge and incentives.
Washington assumes it can mandate abortion policy, drug laws, or education nationwide, but reality defies such control. The result? A self-fulfilling prophecy of division, where pressure strengthens polarization rather than unity.
Bastiat’s seen vs. unseen: we see the “national standard” or “civil rights enforcement”; we miss the unseen erosion of consent, the black markets of resistance, the exodus of talent. Ron Paul extends this: true compassion—and true rights—come from voluntary cooperation, not coercion.
Citizens demanding federal imposition of their ethics on dissenting states (“Utah must allow abortions!” or “California must ban them!”) are domestic imperialists.
Under the guise of righteousness, they wage war on sovereignty, mirroring the “greater good” pretext for foreign bombs. As in interventionism abroad, good intent masks power grabs; the road to serfdom is paved domestically too.
Superior Accountability and the Power of Exit
Without the federal shield, accountability explodes. Local politicians live among their constituents—no distant lobbyist moat, no “national security” excuse.
A mayor wasting funds faces recall tomorrow; a governor flees to the grocery store knowing voters remember.
Most powerfully: exit becomes real. Vote with your feet, not futile ballots. Productive citizens flee high-tax, regulated states for freer ones, starving bad governments of revenue.
As in markets, competition drives excellence: low taxes in Texas attract businesses; innovative education in Florida draws families. Bad policies? Exodus. Good ones? Influx.
This is Tiebout’s hypothesis in action—jurisdictional competition—but amplified without federal overrides.
States become laboratories of democracy, as Justice Brandeis envisioned, free from Washington’s fatal conceit. People can really vote with their feet.
Addressing Objections: Defense, Trade, Crime, Scarcity, and More
Disaster relief first.
Look at Katrina: billions funneled through Washington, and New Orleans still waits.
Why? Because money in D.C. isn’t money on your roof. It sits in FEMA warehouses, gets eaten by contractors, or buys senators a reelection ad.
Local crews show up day one—with chainsaws, water, hands. They know the streets. They know the people.
No forms in triplicate. Same with California fires.
Federal aid’s “help”? It’s a press conference and zero accountability.
The real saviors? Neighbors. Trucks from Oregon. As always, immediate help and real donations come straight from people, no middleman.
All budgets are easier to account for, people are actionably able to hold politicians accountable.
The TV makes grandiose statements of massive government assistance but ask people in North Carolina, during or after Katrina, after tornados or after any disaster.
And when states like Texas send aid—not because FEMA says so, but because they choose to—it’s fast, it’s accountable.
When Texas or Florida chooses to help Mississippi, it’s genuine—it’s voluntary, transparent, direct accountability.
No distant politician or outside influence, nobody’s career or pork budget decides if or when the help is allowed.
No IRS withholding, no lobbyist kickback, no “support this other thing, vote for my bill, vote for my re-election or we pull the funds".
When FEMA does it, it’s always conditional: “Now you’ve got to sign this grant form, let us audit your books first or you can just hire our approved contractors while we wave some flags for the cameras and we give a speech about how tragic it is and how we are trying extra hard to help.”
Power and corruption disguised as generosity.
State-to-state? Pure neighbor stuff, no strings between the efforts or beyond the cleanup.
Bottom line:
Central aid is charity with claws.
Local help is hands, no strings.
One survives and is accountable.
One survives on paperwork and no accountability, just propaganda.
Critics invoke fear: without the federal government, chaos—war among states, invasion, economic collapse, moral decay.
National Defense and War: States can form voluntary alliances for mutual defense, as Switzerland’s cantons do. No automatic wars; each state votes its own funds and troops.
Endless foreign entanglements die—no military-industrial complex profiting from printed money. Real threats? States cooperate swiftly, as free people did in 1776.
The federal monopoly incentivizes offensive wars for profit; decentralization starves aggression.
Trade and Economy: Interstate commerce thrives without barriers—voluntary agreements replace tariffs. Roads? Private firms or state tolls build them efficiently, competing for users.
No redundancy waste; profits reinvest. Scarcity? Markets allocate better than bureaucrats—prices signal needs, innovation surges.
Take West Virginia or Mississippi, how much has the federal government improved their quality of life?
If they’ve got nothing to sell, they’ll build something.
They’ve got resources, minerals or ports. Wood. Land. Sun. If they can’t turn that into a life, no one can.
Federal ‘aid’ keeps them hooked on transfers, killing incentive—remove the drip, watch innovation surge.
Cheap labor plus zero federal red tape equals profit.
Mississippi could become the new Singapore: low taxes, private ports, no OSHA audits every Tuesday.
These places stay in perpetual poverty and addicted to drugs with terrible healthcare and awful food access, completely walled off markets while our federal government has massive budgets.
The ports are not safe, drugs come in, legally and illegally always have. No accountability, corporations have more federal influence than the local government.
People don’t want handouts.
They want fair shots.
Crime and Justice: Local sheriffs and courts handle it, tailored to communities.
No federal overreach turning minor offenses into SWAT raids. Cartels crossing borders? Border states defend vigorously, without dragging Vermont into the fight.
Imposing Ethics (“Civil Rights” or “Women’s Rights”): This is the domestic equivalent of humanitarian intervention—force your morality on others. Classical liberals reject it: rights are negative (non-aggression), not positive entitlements imposed by majority fiat.
If a state violates natural rights, citizens exit or revolt internally. No “saving” them with federal guns—that’s just new oppression. If someone is stuck in a place with laws they disagree with, there is no better option than being able to move where laws fit better.
Relying on the federal government isn't just the majority potentially swaying the laws to and fro, it's leaving the laws to disconnected, corrupt politicians, not even from your area.
Federal government, thus your local representatives completely unaccountable, fenced off from any consequence and disconnected from you.
Unity and Coordination: Voluntary cooperation suffices for shared needs (e.g., disaster response).
History’s “unified” empires crumbled under central weight; decentralized systems (Holy Roman Empire’s cities, Hanseatic League) innovated and prospered.
#Bitcoin accelerates this: sound money ends federal printing, starving wasteful spending and endless wars. States on Bitcoin compete honestly—no inflation tax subsidizing corruption.
The Path to Liberty: Dissolution as Correction
Non-intervention abroad refuses the false choice of “invade or do nothing”—it chooses freedom.
Domestically, dissolving the federal government refuses “centralize or anarchy”—it chooses sovereign states in voluntary federation.
When people rise against overreach, that’s not chaos. That’s correction.
We don’t need a distant leviathan dropping mandates from the sky.
We need to get out of each other’s way.
Let states trade, migrate, and rebuild without external coercion manufacturing misery.
Peace through freedom is not just the ethical choice—it is the only choice compatible with liberty, reason, and reality.
The federal government has outlived its betrayal. Dissolve it. Restore sovereignty.
Let a thousand freedoms bloom.
Let each person live the life they choose.
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