Federal Highway Funds 'strings'

[Krugerrand]

Why do states tolerate the crap?

Lawmakers to propose ban on driving while texting (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090729/ap_on_go_co/us_driving_texting;_ylt=AtPmQTeTIjdZrXGBlhPMRRlg.3 QA;_ylu=X3oDMTJscjY0YnJuBGFzc2V0A2FwLzIwMDkwNzI5L3 VzX2RyaXZpbmdfdGV4dGluZwRjcG9zAzcEcG9zAzcEc2VjA3lu X3RvcF9zdG9yaWVzBHNsawNsYXdtYWtlcnN0b3A-)

WASHINGTON – States would be required to ban driving while texting or face the loss of highway funds under legislation being pushed by a group of Democratic senators.
I know this is just one more of many others ... but how do they get away with it? How does nobody stop and say 'gee ... the federal government has no business requiring a state to pass a particular piece of legislation.'

I'd like to see a state drop the federal highway funds ... even if they had to jack up toll to make up for it. With the EasyPass (that I don't' really like) they could discount tolls to residents of the state and hit up the out of towners for use of the roads.

[acptulsa]

Most people don't understand that the federal government has no business doing this crap. They don't see that federal highway taxes prevent the states from levying enough tax on fuel to fund their highways all on their own, and this gives the fedgov the leverage it wants to usurp power.

I like to awaken those old enough to remember it by flatly saying that there was no federal 55 mph speed limit because such a thing would be unConstitutional. That wakes them up, because they think they know there was such a thing.

Repeal the federal fuel tax and the government can't do this crap.

[Stary Hickory]

I agree the Founding Fathers never wanted DC to have this kind of control over the states. The Federal Government is using our tax dollars to violate the sovereignty of States. It's a crime. The states shoud respond by "adjusting" the rate of taxationt the Federal Government can take from it's citizens and then collect the taxes personally.

If the government has an "excess" of funds that it can lord over the states, then it goes without saying taxes need to be lower and the states can deal with funding the highways themselves. This is simply a case of a thug give you back some of your stolen money to make you even more subservient.