Let state and localities do right
Bill Haslam is the former two-term mayor of Knoxville, Tennessee, and former two-term governor of Tennessee. He received over 70 percent of the statewide vote in his final run for governor in 2014. A businessman, author, and professor, Haslam now co-chairs the Vanderbilt Project on Unity and American Democracy. He recently spoke to senior editor Ray Nothstine on the topic of America’s federalist system of government.
Ray Nothstine: You’ve heard this term “laboratories of democracy.” It comes from a dissent by former U.S. Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis. What does that mean to you when you hear that term?
Gov. Bill Haslam: My very first thought is that it’s a true statement. States should be the place where they can try different policies to see what works best. We’re blessed to have 50 states in the country, and every state is trying to experiment in a different way. The citizens get to see and experience those results. If you think about it, if we really would see the country that way, we could learn from each other, and the federal government can learn a lot from the states about public policy and what is working for Americans.
You were the mayor of Knoxville. In what ways does having mayoral experience give you better insight into being an effective governor? In what ways were you able to be a better governor having served as a mayor?
Haslam: First, being a mayor is great preparation for understanding the needs of those you are serving. It’s a little like playing Double-A baseball before you go to the major leagues. It’s still the same game and the bases are the same distance apart. You’re working a lot with legislative bodies. There is tax revenue coming in and expenses going out. Obviously, that’s needed for the budget process. Sure, the curveballs are better, and the fastballs are faster at the state level. But overall, learning about the process of government is incredibly helpful. That’s the first thing to keep in mind.
The second is, and not all state leaders agree with me on this, it just reinforces the impression or the thought that I already had, that government is best when it’s closest to home. Lots of times in the states we tend to tell local governments what they should do. There are occasions when that’s appropriate, but not all that much. I have a strong preference for letting those local voters and communities decide what they want to do for themselves.
This may pertain to some of your time as governor, but what are some of the significant ways that the federal government blocks or hinders a governor’s ability to improve their state? Are there specific policies that you think should be left up to the states rather than concentrated in Washington?
Haslam: I would go for as much as possible being left up to the states. I mean that. Now to do that, states need to live up to their obligations. It’s helpful to think about some of the ways that the federal government has become more involved and grown because states weren’t doing the right things. If you think about it, the federal government grew the most during the American Civil War. We were a small government before that. The Civil War and all the division caused it to grow. In fact, the term red tape was used during the Civil War to bundle up objects and documents that were sent to Washington, D.C.
The argument is if states do the right thing, then they should be able to have that leeway to make their own decisions. Unfortunately, we haven’t always done that historically. Of course, slavery is a prime example when the federal government had to step in and rectify a grave wrong. That’s why I think it’s even more of a reason for states to be responsible and forward thinking in their decision making. When we embrace that as leaders and citizens, it’s much easier to let as many decisions as possible be made right at home.
I see that you’re a big part of this Vanderbilt University Project for Unity and Democracy. It’s intriguing to me. How can federalism help alleviate hyper-politicization and promote more civic cooperation, and broader unity in general?
Haslam: I believe it can. Historically, I would argue that local governments have been better than state governments and states have been better than the federal governments. The tendency at a more local level is not to immediately dive into partisan arguments. One of the things that is nice about most states and most localities is that they are required to balance their budget. You can’t just take a position that’s unreasonable. Leaders know that it’s their problem to solve the budget. In the federal government, you can have people that propose all sorts of crazy things because of the attitude, “We don’t ever have to balance these things and I don’t have to be serious about it.” I think if you’re a governor, if you’re mayor, at the end of the day, since most of those governments are required to balance a budget every year, that forces you to be a problem solver. I think if you are solving problems, you’re less likely to merely play political games.
What do you believe is the greatest detriment to the principles of federalism today?
Haslam: The greatest threat to it, and it’s not just a threat, it’s a reality, is there are too many people in Washington that think they know what’s best in every state. That’s number one and that’s a real problem today. Number two is that the federal government has become so large and spends too much money. And with those expenditures they can make demands that can easily overwhelm the decisions that are made on the local and state level. Even when looking at most state budgets, the amount of federal money that is pumped into every state is dictating their budget. Some mandates include federal money, and some of them don’t.
There’s a whopping percentage of state budgets that are constituted with federal dollars and the state is charged with implementing those demands, whether it be Medicaid or some of the social relief programs. The point of all that is when so much of the budget is already decided from day one—and here’s what the rules are—that’s incredibly constraining. Here are your rules for Medicaid dollars. Here are your rules for education dollars. Obviously at that point you’re not making those decisions about how you’re going to spend those dollars yourselves. So much of it has already been decided by Washington.
How do state and local governments contribute to the collapse of federalism? Where do they go wrong in their thinking and action?
Haslam: That’s a good question. Historically, as I said earlier, it was the Civil War that caused the federal government to get to the size that it did. I say this as somebody who’s from a southern state, but the southern states could have recognized far earlier that slavery was not an acceptable practice. If we didn’t have the Civil War, then maybe the national government wouldn’t have quite the growth we see today. Instead, you have had this tremendous tripling or quadrupling in the size of the federal government. Again, the general point is that when states are not responsible, the people in the federal government feel the freedom to come in and make that right. Unfortunately, the folks in the federal government have felt that in way too many cases, not only in the few instances that they were right. Now that attitude has crept into so many areas, particularly where states would be better off leading and making policy decisions.
What advice or what would you tell someone who’s considering seeking local office, such as the mayoral race?
Haslam: I would do it. I’ll tell you what I do tell people is that there are very few things that are as rewarding in life as serving your hometown or your home state. I say this as somebody who spent most of my life in private business, which is great and has its excitements and challenges, but the leverage that you get out of serving in a public office is just hard to compare. You can make decisions that will be impacting large groups of people for a long time to come.
A big lesson that I learned serving as the mayor and governor is that who we elect does matter. One of the reasons that the pure partisanship and polarization we have today bothers me so much is that so much of it is no longer about actually solving problems. It’s become more about trying to outargue the other side and outperform the other side.
Government is a noble calling and the chance to change people’s lives in a good way. The kind of scale you have in that role to impact so many people for good doesn’t come along very often.
How we collectively view government matters. What advice or insight can you give to Americans about how they should be thinking about their government, particularly today?
Haslam: People’s lives hang in the balance in relation to solving a lot of these big problems that we have, and whether it’s the federal debt, how we’re going to handle healthcare, the list goes on and on. I think the message I give to people is that public policy matters. The idea that I’m going to try to own the other side by having a clever response on Twitter is not what this country needs. I don’t say that in response to any one person.
There is a mentality that’s built up in our country where people get rewarded for performing well on the stage. Simply put, there’s not enough attention paid to the people who are solving real problems. What I encourage people to do when they go vote or decide whom they’re going to support: First, does that person believe the right things or reflect the values they hold? Secondly, does that person have a resume for solving problems? If they don’t, no matter how much you might like their rhetoric, find someone else.
If there’s one takeaway every American should know about federalism, what is it?
Haslam: There are a lot of great things about this country, but the federalism principle that lies at the heart of who we are has made us great. If you want to live in a place like Illinois that has a rich pension system for its government employees and pays that commensurate level of tax, and you think that’s the right way, you can live in Illinois. If you want to live in a state with no income tax, like in Tennessee, Florida, or Texas, because you think that’s going to attract and grow the economy and provide a better future for your children and grandchildren, you get to do that too.
That principle is at the heart of what’s made the country great. I worry those ideals are increasingly threatened by Washington because of the tendency to continually grow larger in terms of the scope of the government. There is a dangerous tendency for that spirit to get louder and louder in terms of having the final say on so many things.
