In what should be an eye-opening discussion, Alexander Moss, a real progressive, is resigned to moving much of governance to the states—or is he?
Alexander Moss – The Defederalized Democrat
Watch Politics Done Right T.V. here.
Podcasts (Video — Audio)
Summary
Alexander Moss argues that America’s deep polarization and federal paralysis call for “strategic decentralization”: shifting more policy-making power to states while preserving nationwide floor standards for civil rights and social insurance. In a wide-ranging conversation he traces how cultural divergence, Senate malapportionment, executive overreach, and corporate oligarchy have hollowed out democracy, then explains why empowering states—much as Brandeis envisioned “laboratories of democracy”—could unlock progressive experiments in health care, climate action, and economic justice even under a hostile presidency.
-
Moss defines “defederalized democracy” as greater state autonomy backed by immutable federal guarantees for voting rights, Social Security, and Medicare.
-
He warns that executive-order governance, whether by Trump or Biden, signals institutional failure and increases the risk of authoritarianism.
-
Demographic and cultural divergence, combined with a 100-million-citizen “empire limit,” make one-size-fits-all federal solutions increasingly brittle.
-
Oligarchs publicly deride government but still rely on federal power—especially the military and trade enforcement—when their global profits are threatened.
-
Robust civic education and critical-thinking curricula are essential to counter division, yet right-wing book bans reveal how anti-democratic forces fear an informed populace.
Viewed through a progressive lens, Moss’s thesis becomes a rallying cry: harness state activism to raise labor standards, expand Medicaid, and turbo-charge green jobs, while fighting nationally for voting rights, fair courts, and redistributive funding. Decentralization should never mean abandonment; it should mean building power closer to the people and making the federal government the guarantor, not the opponent, of justice.
About The Author
Alexander Moss has a B.A. in Political Science from the University of California, Davis. Moss has been writing on this topic (federal-state relationships) since 2022, with the publication of “A More Perfect Union (Briefs): Reimagining the United States as a European Union-style Federation.” In that book, he examined a scenario in which the United States would add another layer between the states and the federal government. His latest book, The Defederalized Democrat, vastly expands, updates, and improves that research. It moves from a theoretical “what if” to a more grounded, active analysis.
The complete article is here on my Substack.
Viewers are encouraged to subscribe and join the conversation for more insightful commentary and to support progressive messages. Together, we can populate the internet with progressive messages that represent the true aspirations of most Americans.
