I know the theory, McGrath; it's an old one. It's the practice that concerns me. You can bank on the theoretical likelihood that the nearby local government will be more sympathetic to you than the faraway Feds will be, but that's just a theory, which often is not borne out in practice.

When you come right down to it, either the Federal government or the various state governments can restrict individual freedoms, so the big question is which one you trust more. In my experience, at least until recently, the Feds were more likely to uphold individual rights than the states were, so they're deserving of a higher level of trust. Ultimately, each type of government is accountable to its constituency, therefore state and local governments are more susceptible to coercion by a local majority than the Federal government is. Individual cases may vary, but in general that's the way I've seen it play out in this country.