Federalism When Desired

I ran across this excellent rebuttal to Federal oversight of health care today, written by Lori Swanson (D), Attorney General of Minnesota:

What ails the federal government, however, is not the lack of regulatory authority but the lack of will to use it.

Over the past 50 years, deregulation at the federal level has no doubt improved efficiency in some industries. But federal regulatory indifference has ill-served the public in many others: the Food and Drug Administration's aversion to oversight of pharmaceuticals; the Justice Department's reluctance to enforce the antitrust laws; the Department of Labor's hesitance to regulate federally governed health plans; the Federal Communication Commission's unwillingness to rein in media concentration; and the Environmental Protection Agency's failure to address invasive species in the Great Lakes or carbon, mercury and ozone emissions. The list goes on and on. With this kind of performance record in Washington, now is not the time for the state government to forfeit consumer protection to the feds.

The administration also wants to allow insurance companies to be regulated exclusively by the federal government. This not only would undermine the ability of states to protect policyholders from unfair insurance practices, it probably would raise insurance rates in states like Minnesota. Midwestern states often have lower property- and casualty-insurance rates because they don’t have the same hazards — hurricanes, outdated building code enforcement, urban fires, etc. — that result in higher rates on the two coasts and in the South. A federal insurance-rate regulation system would likely gloss over geographical differences, causing Minnesota’s insurance premiums to go up.

State government has shown that it can be more responsive to the needs of the ordinary citizen. For example, in 2006, while the states were pursuing Ameriquest Mortgage for $325 million over its predatory lending practices, the White House was busy appointing the company’s CEO to be ambassador to the Netherlands.

There is just one small caveat about this rebuttal. It was written in opposition to Bush's proposal of a federal Mortgage Origination Commission in 2008. Ms. Swanson has not extended the same argument to Mr. Obama's regulations on health care insurance. In fact, she is filing an amicus brief in support of the Obama administration against several lawsuits being filed by the AGs of other states.

Hold one position or another but don't be caught as two-faced just because of how it might benefit you.