Fixing Government Waste and Fraud Starts With Giving Power Back to States

In this The Federalist article…

• Former Sen. Jim DeMint argues that the best way to reduce federal waste, fraud, and inefficiency is not better bureaucracy in Washington but returning far more authority to the states.
• He frames the problem through the lens of total quality management, saying real improvement only happens when decision-making is pushed down to the people actually doing the work instead of being hoarded at the top.
• The piece contends that the Constitution was designed with exactly that principle in mind, dividing federal power among branches while reserving most governing authority to states and citizens.
• DeMint says today’s federal government has drifted far from that design, now exerting control over education, health care, retirement plans, energy, workplace rules, environmental policy, and much of private business.
• He argues that this concentration of power has predictably produced high costs, poor service quality, corruption, debt, division, and paralysis rather than competent national governance.
• The article sharply blames Democrats for resisting decentralization, claiming they oppose shifting power back to states because centralized control over money and services gives them national political leverage.
• DeMint makes a broad case that, outside of core federal responsibilities like national defense, trade, immigration, and border control, most issues could be handled better by states, private organizations, or individuals.
• His larger point is that Americans often focus on symptoms rather than root causes, and that voters should start asking why federal authority keeps expanding despite such obvious signs of dysfunction.

Read the full story: https://thefederalist.com/2026/03/20/fixing-government-waste-and-fraud-starts-with-giving-power-back-to-states/