Foreword: Blue State Federalism at the Crossroads

Blue state federalism is at a crossroads. The reason? Progressives advocating for more state and local policymaking power may have been too successful for their own good. In the eyes of many, the 2006 congressional elections, in which Democrats made major gains in the House and Senate, presaged the transformative election of November 4, 2008. But the roots of this seemingly seismic shift in American politics may be traced back even further—to the work done over the last eight years in state houses and city councils across the country. As the two essays presented in this volume amply demonstrate, on issue after issue over this period of time, it was state and local leaders who often took the lead in proposing creative, progressive responses to the nation’s most pressing problems. And, on issue after issue, it was national government actors who often stepped in to thwart them.

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