DWI STATE, NOT FED ISSUE

The Chronicle's editors deserve a big thanks for the editorial "Bad Idea:
Let states, not power-drunk Clinton handle DWI" (Editorial page, March 4).
Despite the laudable goal of lessening drunken driving accidents, this
proposal is another incident in the long line of federal usurping of
sovereign state power.

The Founders recognized that while certain ends may be desirable, it is not
the function of a federal authority to solve every problem. This is a
federal, not a national system. Not only would we miss the innovation and
broad experimentation which 50 separate jurisdictions bring to
problem-solving, each pronouncement from Washington erodes further the
essential balance of powers between the states and the central authority.

The history of early American government is replete with examples of
legislation being rejected by Congress or the president on just these
grounds.

We should think through the myriad proposals being churned out frequently
by Washington politicians and bureaucrats. There are always unseen and
unacceptable consequences of such schemes.

Such federal legislation is the reason why I will be thumbprinted and
numbered like a common criminal when I renew my driver's license this
month, while biometric identification such as retinal scanning is waiting
in the wings for implementation.

Wayne Dennis Holt, Houston