Spotting a federalist in California is about as rare as finding a
bus stop. Far from the protocol of the Washington beltway, in a
state where excessive individualism is encouraged, and Newt
Gingrich's popularity still registers in double digits, federalist
voices don't exactly litter the landscape. What better vantage point
to get a fix on the ongoing battle to dismember federal government?
As you'll recall, my starting point for study was the aborted
Republican revolution of 1995, and its call to arms: the Contract
with America. Federal government was indicted as "too big, too
intrusive and too easy with people's money." The assault failed, but
it marked the beginning of a series of attacks on Washington's
credibility that continues today.
"Rarely," gays American historian Alan Brinkley, "has there been an
assault on the institutional, even constitutional underpinnings, of
American government as fundamental as the one facing it today.
Should that assault succeed, it would make profound changes in the
character of our national government, the legacy of which could last
for generations."
While distrust and disdain of federal government is not as deeply
rooted in Canada, the noisy nature of the American debate has
certainly drifted north. "Flexible federalism" has become the
rallying cry as Ottawa tries to prove to the provinces that it still
has a few tricks left in its bag to keep Quebec in the family,
massage the economy, or produce new jobs.
Calls for devolution are on the lips of provincial premiers as often
as state governors, all in the name of moving government closer to
its citizens, of course. It's a trend not overlooked in Stanford's
bible, the course catalogue.
One of the most challenging courses l took was Kathleen Sullivan's
"American Constitutional Law". A top First Amendment scholar,
Sullivan's passions are the issues around freedom of speech, and
freedom of religion. Cataloguing the contest of wills between the
U.S. Supreme Court and Congress proved to be the best analysis of
American politics on campus.
Sullivan is also that rarest of California creatures, an unabashed
federalist. She condemns the dozens of proposed constitutional
amendments currently before Congress that would radically shift
power away from Washington and to the states. Sullivan quotes James
Madison, one of the framers of the Constitution, who believed that
federal government was the best check on the "propensity of mankind
to fall into mutual animosities". And she argues that
decentralization would trigger a "race to the bottom" among states,
each vying to undercut the other in the fight to attract new
business.
"The Anti-federalists lost the constitutional battle at the end of
the 18th century. Nothing has changed in two centuries to make them
right at the end of the 20th," concludes Sullivan in her latest
book, "New Federalist Papers: Essays in Defence of the
Constitution". Sullivan also provided me with a directed reading
list.
Another course helpful to my research was the "Transformation of
American thought and culture from 1865 to present", taught by
Richard Gillam. As billed, this course was an eclectic tour through
the last hundred years of political reform, featuring work by
Thorstein Veblen, Henry Adams, Herbert Marcuse, Lillian Hellman,
James Baldwin and Irving Kristol. Gillam sees the current
disillusionment with federal government as a legacy of the 40s: the
upheaval of McCarthyism, rapid industrialization, and the lead-up to
the second World War. It's an interesting backdrop for the growing
chorus of voices on both sides of the border who lament the demise
of government, and the character of "civic life".
Other professors/seminar leaders of note:
Taylor also served as a member of the Council of Economic Advisors in the Bush Administration. Taylor designed Dole's ill-fated economic package that included a 15 per cent tax cut, and a promise to balance the budget at the same time.
In addition to my research topic, l also took courses in Cyberspace
Law, Conflict Management and Negotiation (Graduate School of
Business), Economics, Transatlantic Modernism (Art History) ,
Fiction Writing and Oceanography. The latter was a fluid mix of
science and folklore, perfect preparation for a tsunami from Lake
Ontario or, more probably, Queen's Park.
Off campus, l had several fascinating conversations with Peter
Schrag, former editor of the respected Sacramento Bee newspaper.
Schrag has chronicled the twists and turns of California politics
for over 30 years, including the most recent experiments to reshape
government that he dubs "the populist road to hell": term limits,
supermajority votes, and balanced-budget amendments. Schrag contends
that state government is now so handcuffed by voter restrictions
that it barely functions at ail.
Schrag is particularly critical of the push for term limits: "By
some strange working of the popular will," he says, "the country
will take some of the government's toughest decisions out of the
hands of legislators with long experience and deliver them into the
hands of amateurs. The legislature has, in effect, become a bus
station, where some people have just arrived and other are waiting
to leave, and as a result the institution itself does not elicit
much loyalty or devotion."
California's attempts to reshape government serve as cautionary
tales for provinces contemplating similar reforms. My research
should also be useful for a series on CBC's "The National Magazine"
about whether Ottawa should cut taxes or boost spending now that
it's speeding out of the red. The program will air in January.
One other note: l was invited to speak to Stanford's graduate
journalism students about CBC, and current affairs reporting. As you
know, there's really no equivalent to CBC Radio anywhere in the U.S.
Documentaries from the now defunct "Sunday Morning" were the
centrepiece of my presentation. What was supposed to be an hour
lecture turned into a three hour Q&A session. It makes me wonder -
not for the first time - if CBC isn't being short-sighted by not
preserving and promoting the documentary format that earns it such
kudos.
All in all, it was an exceptional year. My fellow Fellows are some
of the most committed journalists I've met, and l feel I've returned
to Canada with a renewed sense of craft, a wealth of story ideas and
new contacts. Quite simply, l could never have accepted a Knight
Fellowship without the help of the Michener Awards Foundation. Thank
you again.
Sincerely,
Heather Abbott
Producer
"The National Magazine"
CBC Television, Toronto
November 26, 1997