Offsite Post: ‘Can the States Break Free from Federal Dependence?’

 

Mr. Christopher Butler asks that common question in a recent essay here at The Hayride.  He and others believe that reliance on federal largesse poses a nearly impossible obstacle to surmount to States that wish to part ways with, or re-configure in major ways, the current union.  But is it?

The answer is quite easy on this point – No, it is not insurmountable.  Let us look at Louisiana in particular.  A normal budget for Louisiana is in the neighborhood of $30-35 billion.  Early in the JBE years, for instance, before hurricane and covid relief from the federal government dramatically inflated it, the FY 2017-8 budget was $29.5 billion.  $16.3 billion was raised by State taxes; $13.2 billion came via the federal government.  Thus, if Louisiana decided to separate from DC, she would have a $13 billion budget gap to fill.  That sounds awfully big until one takes a look at how much income tax our State sends to DC, which in the same time period totaled about $39 billion.  With that tax revenue being redirected to Baton Rouge instead of DC, the budget deficit would be covered in its entirety, and there would still be plenty left over.

Financial self-sufficiency would not be a problem for an independent Louisiana.  What does pose a genuine danger is the collective character of Louisianans.  A powerful writer in defense of Christianity and tradition, one of Louisiana’s French kinsmen, the counter-revolutionary Chateaubriand, once said that a major defect of the French character is its frivolity.  And Louisiana, despite the addition of more serious, down-to-earth ethnic groups like the English, Celts, Vietnamese, and others, retains this flaw of our first settlers from France.  The unseriousness of carnival/Mardi Gras permeates much of Louisiana culture, and it is this that ultimately threatens any attempt by Louisiana to separate from woke/globalist Blue States, as buffoonish leaders and corrupt morals inside and outside of government destroy a people far more quickly than weak GDP numbers.

The cure for that is to strengthen the religious and cultural fabric of our State.  There are many heroes who can help us in this task.  Some Christian heroes in particular include three saints whose feast days are celebrated about this time of year. 

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The rest is at https://thehayride.com/2023/03/garlington-can-the-states-break-free-from-federal-dependence/.

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Holy Ælfred the Great, King of England, South Patron, pray for us sinners at the Souð, unworthy though we are!

Anathema to the Union!