The United States of America is fortunate to have one of the largest integrated markets in the world. Bohanon recalls that some 40 years ago, his Rotary hosts in Belgium remarked, “American producers can sell from Maine to California; we have no such equivalent in Belgium.” Indeed, since that time, Western Europe has attempted to replicate our nation’s single market by establishing a common currency and uniform regulatory standards. Adam Smith noted 250 years ago that rising living standards stem from an extensive “division of labor,” which in turn requires large, unified markets. 

Yet large national markets create political challenges. National rules often clash with regional preferences. When federal policy contradicts deeply held local views, conflict is almost inevitable. The unrest over federal immigration enforcement in Minneapolis is neither the first nor the last example of such tensions.  

At one extreme, if a central government cannot enforce its authority in its regions, the nation risks disintegration or perpetual civil conflict (think Afghanistan). At the other extreme, if the central government can impose its will without limits, the nation becomes despotic and totalitarian (think the Russian Federation or Iran). As the old metaphor suggests, all nations—especially large ones—steer constantly between Scylla, the rocky shoal, and Charybdis, the all‑consuming whirlpool. 

Perhaps we can learn from the first major test of federal power after the Constitution’s ratification in 1789: the Whiskey Rebellion of 1794. To fund Revolutionary War debts, Congress enacted an excise tax on distilled spirits in 1791. On the frontier, small farmers commonly distilled surplus grain into whiskey because it was easier to transport, trade, and even use as a medium of exchange. Many settlers were Revolutionary War veterans who had fought against British taxation and refused to pay the new Federal tax. Federal agents were tarred and feathered attempting to collect the tax. 

President George Washington considered the rebellion a threat to the Constitution. He personally led federal troops part of the way into the western counties of Pennsylvania before turning over field command to Henry “Light‑Horse Harry” Lee. The rebellion collapsed. More than 150 people were arrested, and two were sentenced to death for treason, though Washington eventually pardoned them. Federal enforcement of the tax remained incomplete, and the issue reverberated into the 1800 presidential election. The Jefferson Administration repealed the tax in 1802. Yet the broader question of federal power versus local resistance remains with us to this day.