Reagan 12612
... the competence to discern the sentiments of the people and to govern accordingly.” These two statements by Reagan are only a few of the many examples of the decentralization rhetoric within Order 12612. Throughout the document, Reagan cited the importance of giving control back to the individual states, unless certain powers were directly reserved for the Federal Government. He asserted that the states were highly capable of dealing effectively with interstate problems, acting individually or together. States’ rights were a big issue for Reagan because he felt that our nation had been straying from what our founders had originally intended with the institution of federalism. Federalism was the very issue that Executive Order 12612 hoped to rectify. With Reagan’s “New Federalism,” he actually hoped to step back in time and readopt the same federalism that the Framers had intended. To open his Executive Order, Reagan stated his purpose, which was “to ensure that the principles of federalism established by the Framers guide the Executive departments and agencies in the formulation and implementation of policies.” Reagan made references to federalism throughout the Order, and each reference was accurate and in compliance with the definition of federalism as the Framers stated it. Executive Order 12612 is evidence that Ronald Reagan not only understood the basic tenets of federalism but also was somewhat of an expert on the subject. He was insistent that the division of governmental responsibilities between the national government and the States needed to be restored, and he even made reference to Thomas Jefferson, a Framer himself, in Section 2, Part E in proving his point. “In Thomas Jefferson’s words, the States are ‘the most competent administrations for out domestic concerns and the surest bulwarks against anti-republican tendencies.’” It is therefore obvious that Reagan grasped federalism in its purest form, and consequently set out to return it back to the way it was originally. Despite Reagan’s strong belief that more power should be given to the States rather than the Federal Government, he failed to rationalize the reason in which decentralization should stop at the state level as opposed to proceeding down to the local level of government. He does mention, however, that the national government should encourage opportunities for local governments and private associations to achieve objectives through cooperative effort. (Exec.Order 12612, 1987) Beyond this mention, Reagan tends to focus almost solely on giving more power to the state governments. The rhetoric in Executive Order 12612 tends to proclaim the evils of Federal Government over-regulation and the positives of the States handling issues on a state level. It says that states could handle certain issues better because they “hit closer to home,” and the States therefore are better suited to make decisions that would have a positive impact on their citizens. These st...