597 | Michael Laskaway: Why States Are the Real Center of American Politics

What It Covers

Marshall Koslowski and States Forum Journal editor-in-chief Michael Laskaway argue that American states — not Washington — are the functional center of political change, and that the center-left lacks a coherent narrative framework to capitalize on that power amid federal dysfunction.

Key Questions Answered

• •State-centered governance: The right has spent decades building infrastructure around state-level power while the left defaulted to federal solutions. States control utilities, election systems, degree requirements, and right-to-repair legislation — policy levers with direct, immediate impact on daily costs and quality of life that federal gridlock cannot touch.
• •The American Promise framework: States Forum uses four principles — representative democracy, effective government, fair markets, and personal freedom — drawn from the Declaration of Independence as an editorial and ideological test. This worldview functions as a fusionist filter, allowing thinkers across factional lines to collaborate without requiring agreement on every policy dispute.
• •AI regulation as a state-level flashback: When federal legislators proposed banning state-level AI regulation, both left and right state legislators pushed back — primarily because data centers are driving up local utility bills. Framing AI policy through constituent electricity costs, not abstract human flourishing, is what actually moves state-level coalitions.
• •Ballot-counting speed as a trust-building tool: Secretaries of state could spend the two years before 2028 publicly and aggressively reducing ballot-counting times. This technocratic fix carries rare narrative weight — it directly addresses a widespread, concrete source of institutional distrust without requiring any partisan concession on election integrity principles.
• •Narrative before policy: The center-left's struggle in long-form formats like three-hour podcasts stems from leading with policy plans rather than personal story arcs. A more effective approach connects policy positions to an evolving personal or historical narrative first, then derives the policy — the model the populist right has used consistently since the mid-2010s.