Help: 2 Challenges to Anti-Federalism

[DeadheadForPaul]

I've always struggled with arguing for anti-federalism with regard to 2 issues

1.) How would Southern segregation have ended without federal intervention?

2.) How would we ensure food safety without federal oversight? Isn't regulation of interstate commerce Constitution or does it not apply in this case?

[Anti Federalist]

I've always struggled with arguing for anti-federalism with regard to 2 issues

1.) How would Southern segregation have ended without federal intervention?

2.) How would we ensure food safety without federal oversight? Isn't regulation of interstate commerce Constitution or does it not apply in this case?

1 - By shaming them into it, the same way the sovereign nation of South Africa was shamed into abandoning "apartheid".

2 - I don't know that food safety is that big of an issue. But if it is, why can't the states set individual regulations as per their wishes?

[nate895]

1) The ultimate federal intervention known as the so-called "Civil War" was responsible for setting race relations back several decades so that Southerners became hard-hearted towards free blacks. Southerners were on their way to voluntary emancipation and probable eventual integration, as recognized by almost every serious historian who has considered the "what if" of an independent south.

2) I agree with AF, the free market and individual states can regulate food to make sure disease isn't being spread. Only a combination of those factors can properly minimize the risk of food-born illness.

[FreeTraveler]

I've always struggled with arguing for anti-federalism with regard to 2 issues

1.) How would Southern segregation have ended without federal intervention?

2.) How would we ensure food safety without federal oversight? Isn't regulation of interstate commerce Constitution or does it not apply in this case?
1) Did it? After the Civil War, ownership was abolished, but the Southern states continued to treat blacks as animals until riots in the 1960s forced changes; the acts signed in DC simply acknowledged the physical reality being forced into place by society anyway.
2) How do we ensure appliance safety without federal oversight? Underwriter Laboratories is not a Federal agency.

[DeadheadForPaul]

1 - By shaming them into it, the same way the sovereign nation of South Africa was shamed into abandoning "apartheid".

How else would they be shamed into it? I wasn't around during that time, but I'm pretty sure that the media, public opinion, and federal government condemned segregation.

The elected officials (and thus, a good chunk of the voters) in the former confederate states clearly did not care what others thought about their segregation


2 - I don't know that food safety is that big of an issue. But if it is, why can't the states set individual regulations as per their wishes?

Food safety is always a big issue as seen by the peanut butter salmonella outbreak and the occasional mad cow disease. I do not put my faith in corporations (and greed) any more than I have faith in government efficiency

It seems like some states would be unable to sufficiently oversee food production in their state and would be performing it at the expense of the rest of us. For example, states like Iowa would bear the burden of food safety for other states that produce little food

And smaller states like Rhode Island would be less likely to have the resources to do such things

[Old Ducker]

The states already perform inspections of food processing plants in agencies under their Departments of Agriculture. Elimination of the FDA and USDA would eliminate confusion as each enforces different laws (Pasteurized Milk Ordinance, for example for the FDA, Code of Federal Regulations for the USDA). Private agencies already exist that create uniform standards for hygienic design of equipment and processing systems.

Keep in mind that governments, whether state or federal are only good at law enforcement. They are too far removed from the real world to keep abreast of technology. Standards that become law should and are created with the input of private and academic sanitarians, engineers and scientists.