Why not strong states?

As debate rages across the country about health care and the spiraling costs - I have yet to hear a clear and compelling argument for strong states. This should be central to the republican platform, and should be what the GOP has been shouting for over the last generation - but has somehow fallen out of our thinking as our leadership has sold out to big federal government. Yet it seems increasingly to me that it may be the only way to save our great nation.

Think about it - well over half of our federal budget is what President Obama calls "mandatory" - social security, medicare and medicaid. (How ironic that something minor and insignificant like national defense is now considered discretionary spending. How soon we forget that at first defense was the ONLY federal reason to exist.) The only chance we have of eliminating our projected $9 trillion defecit and beginning to pay off our nearly $12 trillion debt is to make massive, across the board changes.

So WHY NOT discuss moving every federal program that can possibly be moved TO THE STATES?!? Why do things like welfare, education, housing and the arts need to be federal programs? Why shouldn't we release the states to create and develop their own unique approaches to all areas of society? Doesn't it make much better sense to empower 50 separate and smaller regions to debate and experiment in order to find the best ways to create a powerful and compassionate nation - than it does for one central government to decide and implement massive nationwide programs that cannot help but produce huge amounts of inefficiency and waste?

I have yet to hear any political leader asking this question - if you hear of one, please let me know so I can support him or her!