US Constitution - Federalism

What Is Federalism:

• A theory of government by which political power is divided between a national government and state government each having their own areas of judication.
• James Madison described it as a ‘middle ground’ in politics

What Is Limited Government:

• A principle that the scope of the federal government should be limited to that which is necessary for the common good of the people
• The government should only do what is essential
• James Madison described it as a “double security”

Factors Leading To An Increase Role For The Federal Government:

• Westward Expansion: Settlements spread westward across the Appalachian Mountains over the plains of the Midwest across the Rockies to the Pacific Ocean
• Growth Of Population: The population is 322 million in 2016. A growing nation requires management from a growing population
• Industrial Revolution: Brought the need for government regulation, Department of Commerce and Labour was created before they split 10 years after.
• Improvement In Communications: While the nation grew the modern modes of communication also grew therefore it is vital for the federal government to be able to communicate effectively
• The Great Depression: When it started the federal government got more involved by building roads and schools in local areas
• Foreign Policy: At the start of the second world war, the USA was a superpower and the federal government enhanced this role
• Supreme Court Decisions: In the late 1930s-1970s, enhanced powers through interpretation of implied powers were open e.g Article 1, Section 8.
• Constitutional Amendments: The 14 amendments have changed drastically and the relationship between the state and federal government has improved. The Constitution has amended Article 14 to enhance the relationship between the two. Used to individual state laws for public segregation and discrimination.

What Has George W Bush (2001-08) Achieve In Terms Of Education, Healthcare, Security And The Economy:

• When he was elected it was thought that he would continue the moves towards the shrinking of the size of the federal government but this was not the case.
• In fact, it the federal budget grew as did GDP as federal growth grew by 33%.

Education:

• One of his most important areas of policy
• Wanted to use the re-authorisation of the 1965 Elementary and Secondary Education Act as a vehicle for his education reforms.
• Signed the “No Child Left Behind” Act which meant that it was mandatory for the states to annually test students in grade 4 to 8 (Yr 3-7 in the UK)
• Increased funding for schools that were in poor, inner city areas.

Medicare:

• A federal government healthcare programme for the over 65s designed to cover medical and hospital care.
• In Dec 2003, Bush signed a major Medicare Expansion Bill into law including a new prescription drug benefit
• Estimated cost of $400 billion in the first ten years and was introduced to help American seniors
• Ironic that an Republican President should preside over the modernisation and expansion of medical care.

Homeland Security And Defence:

• Increased spending from $290 million to $651 million, an increase of 125% increase
• This was done because of the ‘War on Terror’ following the 9/11 terror attacks
• Went from 15% of the federal budget to 21%

Economy And Jobs:

• 2 mortgage companies became nationalised after the collapse of the housing markets
• “Not since the Depression has the Federal government taken such a direct role in the workings of the financial system”
• $700 billion ‘bail-out’ to alleviate the effects of the Credit Crunch

In What Sense Was Obama’s View Of The Federal Government Expansive:

• Whilst Bush was concentrated on war and terror, Obama was focused on domestic policy
• A number of federal-state relationships were changed
• The ratio of state and local government employees to federal employees were the highest since 1930.
• GDP also increased to 4.6%
• $246 billion was going to the federal government, $4 billion invested into education
• His healthcare reform was seen as the ‘end of federalism’ and the Tea Party Movement accused Obama of being more of socialist than a federalist.
• States were forced to take party or lose all their federal funding
• Some states argued saying it was unconstitutional and the Supreme Court agreed therefore his view was somewhat curbed by this decision.
• By the end of his Presidency the American’s view on federalism were negative as 29% of voters were enthusiastic whilst 69% were dissatisfied.

Consequences Of Federalism:

1. Legal Consequences: There is variety in state law on matters such as marriage age, driving age and the death penalty.
2. Policy Consequences: The states can act as a policy laboratory experimenting solutions to old problems such as healthcare and immigration reform.
3. Consequences For Elections: All elections are state based and run under state law. Each state can decide how to decide candidates whilst some experimented to how people vote e.g Oregon moving to an entirely postal vote.
4. Consequences For Political Parties: Parties are essentially decentralised, state based parties. Democrats are more conservatives than some other Democrats. Some consequences were highlighted in 2016 after the state decided to not hold a primary but nothing can be done of this.
5. Economic Consequences: Huge grants go to certain states and some does not but also in the complexity of the tax system, income tax are levied by both the federal and state government.
6. Regionalism: Each region in the USA have different cultures and accents as well as racial differences. Conservatism in the Deep South and liberalism in the Northeast.

Does Federalism Work Today:
Yes	No:
Permits diversity	Can mask economic and racial inequalities.
Creates more access points in government	Can frustrate the ‘national will’
Provides a ‘double security’ for individual rights and liberties.	Makes problem solving more complicated
Makes states ‘policy laboratories’ experimenting with new solutions to old problems	The relationship between the federal and state government can become a source of conflict and controversy
Well suited to geographically large and diverse nation	Overly bureaucratic and therefore costly to run and resistant to change.