hoser wrote:
Do you realize that the most basic difference between Republicans and Democrats, liberals and conservatives comes down to states rights vs federal rights?
This goes back as far as the founding of this nation. You need to understand that basic difference in order to understand 'the other side' (whichever side that may be).
To answer your question, the state governments represent a smaller population therefore are a better reflection of that population's wishes. Some states may want to regulate healthcare while others do not. To each their own.
Last I checked conservatives were not in favor of states rights. Remember during the health care debates when all the conservatives wanted to remove the ability of states to regulate the insurance market with in their own states? Liberals were all in favor of states rights when individual states were passing gay marriage amendments. Each side picks and chooses when to respect states rights. If a side thinks they can win at the federal level, it is a federal issue. If they lose there, it becomes a states rights issue.
Sort of like how conservatives used to be big fans of gun control. The problem in the 60/70s the wrong people (i.e. blacks) were asserting their 2nd amendment rights. So guys like Ronald Reagan and the NRA opposed things like open carry and were big fans of gun control.