That said, great synopsis of the proper division of powers!

How about just accepting that it's folly to expect that the best decisions can only be made inside the DC beltway.

If states do something clearly unconstitutional such as slavery, there is a legitimate federal judiciary to handle that. But if states want to exercise their rights to conduct their business as they see fit, then they should be allowed to.

If Massachusetts wants to provide health care for it's citizens,then it has a right to do so. But this doesn't extend to a federal level. If other states do not want to offer health care, it's the right of the state to create it's own policies.

Let's leave to DC only those things that should be done on a federal level. The big three are defense, foreign policy and the federal judiciary. Everything else should go back to the states, as well as allowing each state to create it's own taxing policy. The states would simply send money to the federal government, based only on it's population of citizens to cover their per-capita share of those federal tasks.

Everything else, building roads, education, parks, environmental policy, heath care or no health care and so on would be paid for with money collected from the citizens of that state. No transferring wealth from one state to another so someone in DC can buy votes.

United States for defense and foreign policy. But free states to create local policies to address the needs, wants and desires of the citizens of that state through their own policy choices.

I wonder how the blacks who see a racist hiding behind every tree feel about being a member/drone of the party that birthed the KKK?