Since Ezra Klein and I will be sharing a panel at a conference this Thursday to contine our debate on whether progressive domestic policy should be pursued at the state or federal level, I thought I'd elaborate on the issue in a few posts in coming days.

The core point is that despite the conventional wisdom, most domestic programs are funded and administered by state governments because federal instituations have historically been resistant to policy innovation, forcing states out of necessity to take the lead in creating the policies to solve the problems facing American working families.

Federal inaction and state innovation is not a historical oddity but part of the institutional DNA of our national constitutional system, symbolized by the Senate filibuster which kills policy after policy. For this reason, policymakers at both the state and federal level need to think about all policies in the light of creating a "collaborative federalism" that builds policy on that reality.

Read more »