U.S. Government shuts down.

[Nystul]

To know why 'states rights' is inherently a bad thing is to know your history, and what the term itself, historically means and implies by those who advocate it. Since you do not seem to know, I will break it down for you.

It was through the Civil Rights Movement that the right to vote and general civil rights were granted to 'people of color' who lived in the south, by the federal government. Minorities who lived in these states were subject to Jim Crow Laws that were state mandated as a way of maintaining white hegemony in that region of the country. This is where the term 'states rights' come from. Conservatives of various stripes, who are the general proponent of 'states rights', want to rollback these policies that were extended to minorities because they are a threat to white supremacy. Historically, their agenda was to keep minorities (especially blacks) as an economically repressed, uneducated, and socially stratified class to protect white privilege intact in that region. The term 'states rights' is just a code phrase used by those who wish to rollback the progress and civil liberties that were granted to minorities, and they resent the fact that they do not have that power anymore. The Tea Party fascists/racists are the prime example of this today, which is why you always see them hollering about states rights in their little rallies. But tea parties are for little girls with imaginary friends.

Actually some guys named Sam Adams and John Hancock refused to ratify the Constitution unless they could include an amendment stating that powers not expressly granted to the federal government were reserved by the states. Eventually it became the tenth amendment to the Constitution. This was only 180 years or so before the issues of which you speak. The concern of the day was that the new federal government would abuse its power and become essentially a new monarchy. Given some of your rhetoric, one might expect you to feel the same way.