Decentralization

Decentralization is something that has to be done in order to make sure our whole way of life runs smoothly. The federal government couldn't possibly be expected to do everything for everybody. That's why they place it in the hands of our local and state governements. With that being said our congress people (they aren't just men anymore people) and senators have the responsibility to address our issues that we have within the state such as potholes in the road (mighty big ones too at this time of year), homicides, water main breaks (incidently one outside my house the other day), and other issues that people may have within their district. The state and local governments broke down all of these problems into different branches so that everything could be settled fast and efficient. We have the police to deal with homicides, the water department to deal with my water main break, and even look at the Department of Public Instruction. Shorewood has to go to school longer every day because if they don't have enough contact hours with students their funding will get cut. Could the feds deal with all of the problems I have addressed right here? Probably not. If I called Mr. President and told him that I had a water main broke he'd pry say "Take your wife to the hospital there's nothing I can do about it". To put it simply, they have bigger fish to fry.
Decentralization is a logical response to heterogeneity because throughout the United States you can definately see people have different beliefs on certain issues. Each state and local government is different because of this. Ranging from how harsh certain penalties are if you commit a crime to what is done in cases of abortions, states all have different ideas and penalties for these issues (not just these issues though, a plethora of them.) Look at presidential election of 1964 when Goldwater ran against Johnson. Southern states had been primarily democratic states in the past, until the issues of segragation came up and Goldwater said that he would leave that up to the states. Guess who won all the states in the confederate states that election....Goldwater. (I guess we could say racism turned the south red huh?) Now that's a sad situation but it just goes to show that is what can happen when you take some control out of the feds hands and place it in the local and state governments lap.
Right now obviously the President is in control of the democratic party. How can he not be? With all of this hope for change out there that he's promised the democrats look at him as a savior right now, especially since they no longer have to worry about a republican presiden anymore and they have control of the house and senate.
To be honest with you I'm not sure who is in control of the republican party. Sarah Palin seems to want to make a run at the White House in 2012, but she's not in the senate or house. McCain is still too moderate for some hardcore conservatives. Frist was always a big player in my book for how he felt about stem cell research despite his party affiliation. I think the republicans need some new blood. The old white guy doesn't do the job anymore. In my opinion neither will the hockey mom. When I hear my girlfriends mom say "she's like a lot of other moms out there, I like her", that's too much for me. I don't need anyone running the country that's as smart as her (not saying that my gf's mom is dumb, I just don't want ordinary running the country).
It will matter going forward in terms of the presidency. I don' t think it will matter in terms of local government as much, because we very rarely (at least where I live) see a lot of changes in the districts around here. Voters are too set in their ways locally to change that I believe.