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Chris
04-01-2015, 07:44 PM
An interesting idea for those of you who want to support local markets and business.

Free-Market Federalism (http://www.acton.org/pub/commentary/2015/04/01/free-market-federalism)


...States and municipalities craft laws that reflect local cultures, and this proximity to the people has market consequences. Let’s call it free-market federalism, the encouragement of local markets by permitting states and municipalities to frame, as much as possible, the laws by which the communities engage in commerce.

In a spirited defense of decentralization, Abraham Kuyper argues that a central government can only supplement local governments and families. Put another way, the central government exists because local governments and families already do. It exists for them. They do not exist for it....

...Free-market federalism allows states and municipalities the freedom and flexibility to be sensitive to what economist Friedrich Hayek called “the knowledge of the particular circumstances of time and place.” The challenge to free-market federalism should be obvious: The relentless growth of the federal regulatory regime undermines the ability of small and medium-sized businesses to compete with international behemoths....

What’s at stake here is the ability of local businesses to meet people’s needs with entrepreneurial gusto....

Local financial rules help animate this concern, but distant rules diminish it. Letting state and local governments regulate commerce can help the market in two ways: incubation and sensitivity to local needs.

...Just because it’s theoretically possible for the federal government to do something doesn’t mean that it should do so. Regional variety in America isn’t reducible to local accents and fashion choices (or mistakes). It has market consequences, too. National laws can obscure these differences and stifle creativity. Free-market federalism makes room for states and towns to craft their own laws – and flourish.