No Title Needed

Client’s name

Professor’s title

The title of the course

29 April 2019

Federalism

Federalism is a political system in which sovereignty and governing power are shared between a national, centralized government and several provincial/state governments. Essentially, Federalism is a compromise between a Confederate System and a Unitary System. From its founding, the United States feared central tyranny. This fear was so great that, initially, the newly independent US was a Confederacy. However, after four years it became apparent that a marginally stronger central government was pragmatic in unifying the nation and solving its earliest problems. Though many vehemently opposed even a limited Federation, eventually it was agreed that a Federalistic structure would be adopted. As a result,

The central government was reinforced

The US Constitution was redrafted to give more influence to the central government

The Bill of Rights was fashioned to explicitly guard the privileges of people and states in contradiction of a possibly oppressive or dictatorial rule

Greater checks and balances were established to control the role of central government (bicameral legislature, greater power to US Supreme Court)

Furthermore, though the ideals of Federalism initiated a slight centralization, the cautious Founding Fathers were careful to ensure that many aspects of Confederacy still existed such as states possessing their own constitutions and forms of self-determined government and locales possessing their own rules and form of self-determined government.

Though in recent years the federal government has become more powerful, weakening the core values of shared power and limited tyranny, the ideals of Federalism continue to be an important political concept. Beyond the existing framework mentioned above, several prominent political parties such as the Libertarian Party, the Tea Party, and the Republican Party have taken up the banner of Federalism by advocating a return to limited government and relatively greater local authority.

Federalism is the separation of power between a more local government (in the United States these are the States) and an overarching government (the federal government). The problem of federalism has emerged owing to the Constitution of the United States. In the Constitution, there is the 10th amendment. This amendment gives any power not given to the federal government to the states or the people. This often comes into conflict with the supremacy clause found in Article Six. This clause has been interpreted to mean that Federal law is higher than state law.

Politics is the main element affecting federalism. The liberals have a belief that it is the job of the Federal government to deal with majority of issues that surface up for instance, racial bias, terrorism, unequal pay etc. However, the conservatives are of the opinion that dealing with such issues is the work of the states. Such a fact leads to the thought that when liberals (or conservatives) want to do something ( for instance regarding the state of education or healthcare in the country); they ensue a conflict. Politically, federalism has created a society of polarized apathetic un-involved citizens of gigantic proportions. It is the fundamental single feature of the American federal presidential republic that has an entire nation held hostage. Federalism was intended to represent one application of the concept of separation of powers between the national government and the provincial governments. Part of the idea was that separation of powers would prevent totalitarianism which it seems to do but at the same time it also equally obstructs the normal natural democratic aspirations of the population. The original founders were scared of the future given that they were creating the first democratic republic in the history of the world. The founders’ ideologies were good for their time but not appropriate in today’s world. Lastly, the political idea common to each and every single American citizen today is frustration with a government unable to act because of the obstructive nature of federalism.