Changing the Incentives Matter

One of the reasons I've gone on a few little rants about the Supreme Court is that, as we approach our national shame- excuse me-election, many pro-life folks are still regurgitating that same old line about how we have to vote a Republican in so that they can appoint pro-life judges. Basically, that should have worked already. So it's time to find a way to change the incentives that politicians face.

The interesting thing about the Constitution is that it says if it doesn't enumerate a power, it hasn't given a power. The Constitution does not clearly say that the Supreme Court has the ability to determine the constitutionality of a state law. The Supreme Court merely appropriated that power for itself. Why did the checks and balances fail? Well, the checks and balances only work to develop a balance between the different branches of the federal governments. The justices could have been impeached for such behavior, but the very people who would have done the impeaching found grabbing power from the states to be beneficial for themselves as well.

Now the state officials have a different set of incentives. In many ways they would love to take the power right out of the federal government so that they could be more relevant to us. I'm sure they are just as self-serving, but 50 states free from the federal mafia could actually try different things. Right now, of course, the governors don't have an incentive to publicly break with the federal government. They are hooked on federal handouts and generally happy with the status quo. I'm talking especially here about the so-called pro-life politicians. They won't stop abortion because they fear getting trounced by the federal government and they now have a sense of security- do little things at the margin of the issue, and in return they always have our vote. Their incentive is to keep things the same, not actually end abortion.

Imagine changing the situation slightly. If a president, for instance, declared the Supreme court did not have jurisdiction over state law and then made sweeping pardons for any governors taking appropriate action. Suddenly, any pro-life governor would be feeling that incentive- either shut down the industry in your state or never get elected again! Not only that, but every governor would have incentive to do something- the number of cases that would be rendered void are staggering. Ultimately, this would be a boon to liberty, with so many federal edicts gone.

This is, of course, just an example, but one that should give you pause before you vote for a 'pro-life' candidate. Why hasn't anyone really had the guts to try anything other than the appointment of judges, especially when there was a Republican majority in the house? My argument is simply this- we have to figure out how to make sure it is in their best interest to end it rather than merely string us along.