Let's start by saying that we're heading into a deep ditch if we continue to allow the far-right to run the Republican opposition. We as Democrats should not get too cocky as we did back in 2010. Look what happened: we lost the House of Representatives and came very close to losing the Senate.
We need to stay strong in our convictions and not back down to these Tea-Party reactionaries that want to take us back to the 1830s.
Let's be clear to begin our long crusade against the forces of the far-right (really the John Birch Society's new form: The Tea Party). Many of these arguments that they're making are the same tired arguments of years past. For example: the claim that States' Rights trump Federal Authority. That was a debate, long settled since at least the Nullification Crisis in the 1830s and the Civil War in the 1860s. So to make that argument yet again is old and tiresome. There are certain areas of public policy that the States do not have the capacity to develop or are prohibited from doing so, that only the Federal government has the ability or the jurisdiction to make. These areas include coining money and protecting civil rights. Another is terms of maritime activities, which is another area the states are not able to handle due to various jurisdiction issues.
However, the areas we should be concerned about more than anything is the States declaring the right to intrude into areas they are prohibited from. One area in particular is immigration. Think of Arizona's SB1070, in which there are aspects, or were, of it that had intruded on Federal authority to regulate immigration into this country. States in particular are not allowed to pass citizenship requirements or call for people to show their citizenship papers. That's a blatant violation of the 14th Amendment, as well as the 4th Amendment and 5th Amendment. States do have the authority to pass residency requirements in order to set up voter registry qualifications, but if its use is for attempting sideline various racial minorities and prevent them from voting, that's stepping outside the bounds of their authority and violating the 10th Amendment, in terms of denying citizens the right to vote.
We can make the same argument for women and abortions, as well as with contraception. Think of students and loans, and the basic denial of education due to overpricing and fraudulent practices by lenders.
In summation, the Tea Party Republican extremists are seeking to do exactly what I described before. They want to make it so those who are already struggling (i.e., the working poor and the middle class) pay more out of pocket in terms of taxes and basic expenses to make end's meet, so that the wealthiest corporations and individuals get a break and subsidization. This is just bogus! At the same time, they want to free up the regulatory schematic in place so that companies like AIG and BofA can go off screwing over consumers. Others in this list include Comcast & PG&E. And lastly, think of how companies are basically inverting overseas just to get out of paying taxes and sticking us with the bill. Basically, think of your worst experience with a massive company or how you had to subsidize one of them after they went about trying to suppress your rights.