What is Federalism - Free Essay Example

Federalism Summary The main definition of federalism is when the nation, state, or local share control over the same area. In the United States, all of the power is divided and shared between our federal government (national government) and the state/local government to ensure everything is fair. This allows the people of the United States to have the rights and it’ll make them obey laws of the cities, counties, states, and the federal government. There are many other types of federalism which consists of dual federalism and cooperative federalism. Both of these federalism types have there own strengths and weaknesses that make each one satisfying in their own ways. Dual Federalism Dual federalism is only a theory about having an actual relationship with the national government and the states. The states control economic regulation and local issues. The national government controls fostering commerce, foreign policy , and nation defence. Dual federalism could also be known as divided sovereignty or layer-cake federalism. It’s a basic description of the nature of federalism during World War II. The reason it’s described as a layered cake is because there are easily identifiable differences between the state and national powers and responsibilities. Cooperative Federalism Cooperative federalism is a concept. The national, state, and local government work together to solve a problem. People will also call it the marble-cake metaphor. The reason for this is due to all the powers being so mixed up. An example of cooperative federalism was in April 20, 2010 named, Deepwater Horizon explosion. Almost 5 million barrels of oil spilled into the gulf of mexico. The spilled occured in national water, between the state, local, and national came up with a plan to fix it together. Pros of Federalism Our federal government has many advantages by increasing citizen participation. This includes voting for any type of authority. Us as people in the United States have been given the right to vote through federalism. Sharing power around is another key factor we’re given. Without federalism, we may not all have the same electricity standards. The rich might have the brightest light, the poor may get slow internet, and average person might have in between all of that. In general, its good for large, diverse countries growing in population like the United States. The Federalism system make involvement within national, states, and local government easy for everybody. From schools, work places, or on the television, it keeps everyone up to date on what’s happening in the government on the day to day bases on more of a national level than local or state. Cons of Federalism With the states and national government having to agree on everything together, it leads to them disagreeing about which and how laws are made. If a law passed and it affects another states in negative ways, they couldn’t do much about it since they must follow and listen to the national government. There may also be a lot of confusion going around throughout the states. For example, Georgia has the â€Å"Hands Free† law, that permits any Georgia driver from holding their phones. In Florida this is no law, so the second a Floridian accidentally touch their phone in Georgia, there are in trouble. Though, the national government is said to be the most powerful, it’s the most difficult to pass a law through, every states gets their opinion and it may not pass. Even when there could be grants-in-aid some countries take advantage of the idea and the national government allowed themselves to go over budget for them. Concept of Federalism The main idea of federalism comes off of the democratic rules, where power is shared with everybody on anational, state, and local level. It could also be thought up as a unitary government because the central authority holds the power. National controls state and local government, state controls local government, and local will control themselves. What federalism has done was created it this way so that they have their own responsibilities but they will still help eachother out by passing laws or chatting and coming to an agreement (or disagreement) about touchy issues. Grants-in-Aid A grant-in-aid is when one level of government (typically higher leveled) will give money or resources to another level of government (typically lower leveled) with the intention of helping them. This is one of the good things about federalism, it’s made so that everyone can help everyone. It will usually give out relationships between the different types of government to create a more helpful and generous environment. There are four different types of grants to give out. One of them is called, categorical grants. This one targets certain types of projects. The second one is called, block grant. It allows the level of power to have a lot of leeway on what they can spend the money given on. The third one is called, formula grant. It sets up a certain amount they spend and it has a set demographic that can us this grant. The forth on is called, project grant. This is a grant that has competition to it, where different level will compete over who gets it. However, when giving mon ey out, eventually it would start becoming a normal thing to borrow. For example on page 94 of The Challenge of Democracy, it states, â€Å"they grew to an astonishing pace in the 1960’s, when grant spending doubled every five years.† (94, Janda) This is stating that when states started finding out that they could borrow money for the national government, the amount of grants taken skyrocketed. Federalism Ferguson Riot A riot in Ferguson occured when a police officer shot an unarmed teen. The riot was held off by the state and local, but the national government had no help with it. When the state and local government couldn’t maintain the outburst, the national government finally stepped in to help. The federal government supplied the state and local the trucks and military to help control the riots.