I think that John Kasich is right on the policy but wrong on the politics:
If we want to get serious about economic growth, we need less government and more “us.†We need to take our money, power and influence from Washington and bring it back to the states and communities where we live. That is the federalism the Founding Fathers intended for us, and in the first 100 days of my administration, I will seek votes in Congress to restore it.
As the punchline of the old joke has it, “you cahn’t get they-ah from he-ah”. Centralizing money and power in Washington lowers the transaction cost for those who want their views to prevail regardless of their merits. Centralization provides superior opportunities for graft.
A dispirited public thoroughly discouraged with government rather than attentive to local government is so much better for that.
You skipped the debate, can I skip the Kasich piece? Okay, I’ll read it if you tell me he explains in it why and how he’s abandoned his pro-bankster bailout/Lehman Brothers oriented/ job outsourcing past.