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Gov. Mark Sanford has sent a well-reasoned letter to the South Carolina legislature, informing them that he's requested that the Obama administration allow the state to redirect $700 million of the stimulus money that he has control over to pay down the state's debt.

"The reason we think it is not in our best interest to spend these monies lies in the fact that when one is in a hole, the first order of business is to stop digging," he writes. He explains that, "As a believer in federalism, I find it appalling that Washington would seek to effectively remake the entire budget process of the states. But philosophy aside, in the case of our state, doing so would lead to potentially disastrous budgetary consequences in future years."

The whole letter is well worth a read. Whatever you say about Sanford, he isn't just a Republican shouting empty platitudes about government waste for short-term political gain. He's actually a thoughtful conservative making a philosophical, moral and practical argument against expansive government power and reckless spending.