Jennifer Rubin, seeking to dispel “myths about conservatives,” takes on the idea that “the GOP doesn’t believe in community:

President Obama likes to say that Republicans want everyone to be “on his own.” In fact, conservatives, as Romney put it in a speech at Liberty University this year, believe family, communities, churches and other civil institutions are critical building blocks in society. They favor investing authority in the level of government closest to the people (locales and states), which they believe is most responsive and governs best.

That’s a nice theory, and it’s one that keeps many libertarians voting Republican.

But in practice Republicans show less respect for state and local powers than you might think. Republicans, including Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan, supported—and still support—President Bush’s proposals for federal takeovers of education and marriage law. And I’ve never heard them question the Bush administration’s defense and vigorous prosecution of federal marijuana prohibition in the face of state efforts at reform.

Would that we had a Republican party that actually favored “investing authority in the level of government closest to the people.”

[Editor’s Note: See this Cato essay on fiscal federalism for more on the need to devolve federal activities to the state and local level.]