NEW from me. Liberals in California shouldn't have to worry about Mitch McConnell or Ted Cruz affecting their lives. Conservatives in Texas shouldn't have to fear Bernie Sanders or Nancy Pelosi setting their policies. Federalism is the answer (1/) https://www.city-journal.org/how-federalism-can-end-partisan-gridlock

America has sorted itself into overwhelmingly conservative and liberal communities. Why should they fight to the death in Washington to impose their policies on each other? America is too diverse - 330 million people across a full continent - for one-size-fits-all solutions (2/)

Europe doesn't set one set of health or welfare or education policies for the entire continent, from Spain to Turkey to Finland, why should America? Especially when U.S. state economies are often larger than those of European countries (3/)

Surveys show that voters overwhelmingly prefer state and local governments on issues like health care, unemployment, welfare, education, pre-k, housing, and transportation.

And yet Washington is right now federalizing much of what's left of local control here. (4/)

State & local governments can experiment more. Policy screw-ups harm just one state instead of 50, and over time the best state innovations will be copied. Let VT try M4A, let other states try conservative approaches. Stop the fossilized DC debates and see what works. (5/)

This op-ed is adapted from my new longer study that dives into the details of empowering state control of highways, education, welfare, and health care. (6/) https://www.manhattan-institute.org/proposals-empower-states-and-reduce-political-strife