[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E220-E221]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

PRESERVE ONE NATION, INDIVISIBLE

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HON. ZOE LOFGREN

of california

in the house of representatives

Tuesday, February 27, 1996

Ms. LOFGREN. Mr. Speaker, on occasions too numerous to count during
my first year in Congress I have heard Members of Congress suggest that
many of the activities of the Federal Government should be eliminated
or pushed back to the States. As a Californian, I have listened with
some incredulity to the opinion that our 50 Governors now seem to be
viewed by some as the repository of governmental wisdom. This
astonishing view seems to be that State bureaucracies are somehow
preferable to Federal ones.
Aside from this viewpoint, however, there are fundamental questions
posed by the helter-skelter rush to defederalize. I would like to share
the view of Dr. John Collins, as printed in the Bakersfield
Californian. Dr. Collins, a combat veteran of World War II and the
retired chancellor of the Kern County Community College points out that
while it is popular to bash government, we are the premier country in
the world and that is not an accident, but the product of doing
something right.
Dr. Collins is not only a respected member of his community, he is my
father-in-law. I know him as someone not only who is a loved family
member, but the kind of American who those of us in Congress should
listen to. Like the rest of his generation, he suffered the poverty of
America in the Depression; he helped save our country and the world
from totalitarianism during World War II; he achieved professional
success through education and then dedicated his life not only to
raising a good family, but to helping his community have educational
opportunities. His wisdom is gained through experience and we should
listed carefully to his admonition that we are the United States, not
these United States.
The remarks of Dr. John Collins follow, as they appeared in the
Community Voices section of the January 22, 1996 edition of the
Bakersfield Californian:

Preserve ``One Nation, Indivisible''

The history of the United States has its roots in the
British colonies, which though of themselves as semi-
autonomous little nations. When these colonies became states
with the adoption of the Constitution in 1789, they continued
to view themselves as part of a loose union of separate
entities. This view was held in spite of the disastrous
experience with the Articles of Confederation, which
provided for no strong central government.
For 200 years we have been torn between those who want the
states to be ascendant and those who see the need for a
dominant central government. Before the Civil War, the term
``these United States'' was in common usage. When in 1861
Robert E. Lee, a colonel in the United States Army, was
offered the position of general-in-chief of the Union armies,
he said he could not turn his back on his country. By that he
meant Virginia, not the United States.
Prior to the Civil War, there had been a serious
governmental crisis over nullification wherein one state,
South Carolina, took the position that a state could nullify
a federal law (tariff in this instance). Andrew Jackson stood
firm and the central government prevailed.
Also, in the early days of our history as a nation there
were a number of Supreme Court rulings which gave precedence
to the central government. However, the issue of ``states'
rights'' seemed never to get settled.
When Lincoln was elected as the first Republican president,
his election precipitated the secession of 11 Southern states
from the Union. This formation of the Confederate States of
America was the extreme position with regard to ``state
rights.''
The South argued that states had the right to authority of
what they viewed as a hostile central government.
A great civil war ensued that lasted four years, with more
than 1 million causalities. Lincoln steadfastly and
successfully conducted the Civil War to save the Union--to
preserve the country as one nation, indivisible. His enormous
and enduring contribution was and is that we have one
country, not two, or four, or even 50.
However, in time the old dispute over ``state rights''
surfaced again, and again, and again, right up to 1996. We
see now the spectacle of people who represent their states or
districts serving in the United States Congress preaching
``states' rights.''
They want to turn over to the states responsibilities that
have resided with the central government for many years. This

[[Page E221]]
isn't a new argument, but it is startling coming at this late date,
when we can see the terrible effects of parochialism and
tribalism around the world.
Lincoln saved us from Balkanization. He made sure that it
is ``the United States,'' not ``these United States.'' Our
debt to Lincoln is huge, and we should not be persuaded
easily that it is better to have 50 different policies on the
environment, civil rights, Social Security, health services
and many other central government functions.
It is popular now to bash the government. But over the long
haul of history the government has served us well. It isn't
an accident that we are the premier country in the world, the
only superpower. We achieved that status because we have a
good system of government. Democracy isn't an easy system.
There are all kinds of tugging and pulling as we continue to
give everyone a voice.
Let's not kill the goose that laid the golden egg. Let's
not turn the future of this country over to 50 state
legislatures. Let's keep one nation, indivisible.

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