edit: The comment above shouldn’t be downvoted. Yes, many of the items they list are not under control of the state or are only under partial control. But, they asked a good question. To me the question is worth a hundred misunderstandings of fact. This person will certainly clean up their facts if they understand how the system was designed to work and why it’s broken. I upvoted them. You should, too.
what makes something a state’s rights issue versus a federal one?
The supremecy clause in the federal constitution prevents a state from passing a law contrary to federal law. There’s three situations:
1.) The federal law can explicitly allow a behavior. A state cannot pass a law to prevent it.
2.) The federal law can explicitly prevent a behavior. A state cannot pass a law that allows it.
3.) There’s no federal law. States can pass laws as they see fit.
Similarly, states have consitutional supremecy clauses to limit their city and county laws. When a state passes a law then what was once for cities and counties to decide is now under control of the state. When the federal passes a law what was once a state decision is now federal. States and federal will almost never repeal a law to allow the smaller subordinate to again decide. Thus, over time, power is consolidated to the state and federal.
Note that while the deconsolidation of power is very much a leftist issue, the semantic “states’ rights” has been adopted by the radical right. It was a slogan of the Confederacy. The argument they made was IMO wise and sound. But, they were leveraging reason for the immoral goal of continuation of slavery. You’ve not been misunderstood. But, it could easily happen if your audience has slightly less reading comprehension than is usually found on Lemmy.