Christine Todd Whitman Quotes
Republicans believe that problems are best solved at the level closest to the people and that the nation's strength comes from the diversity of its people, not from an all-powerful central government.
Whitman, Christine Todd. It's My Party Too: The Battle for the Heart of the GOP and the Future of America. Penguin Press, 2005, p. 2.
Not only did the people in Afghanistan have very little experience with central government, but they had little history of government of any sort. There were loose tribes somewhat unified by culture, but there was little or no tribal government. The same with clans. Each Afghanistan male was his own ruler over his wives and children in a family centric society. While virtually all were Muslim, there was no hierarchy or structure of the clergy in that society.
Ironically, many Republican leaders give lip service to decentralized government but they fight hard for centralized national government making. Many want Congress to make laws governing abortion and other family planning techniques. Some want the state to decide, but almost no Republicans want to leave these personal decisions to the local government much less the family and women involved. In business regulation as well, republican fight tooth and nail to have Federal legislation prempt state and local government about tort liability for defective products, and they always prefer that the Federal SEC make all the rules and regulations about selling stocks and bonds and do not want state or local government to “interfere”. Likewise, they have emasculated the state governments when it comes to authority over the state militias where virtually all the controls and promotions are decided by Congress and the Department of Defense and not by Governors or local politicians. Ther are many other examples. In most of the solid Republican Southern States, the local school boards cannot even select the textbooks that schools will use and the Republicans centralize this with the State government and state legislatures which they control. Democrats also are generally opposed to decentralization except for large cities having control along with the Federal government but otherwise they too do not want decentralization. For national political parties, what is the point of winning national elections of the big decisions are made locally?
Christine Todd Whitman is an American Republican politician and author who served as the 50th Governor of New Jersey, from 1994 to 2001, and as Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency in the administration of President George W. Bush from 2001 to 2003. She is the first and only woman to be governor of New Jersey, to date.
