I.                     Governmental Structure

1.       The single most persistent source of conflict in U.S. politics since the adoption of the Constitution has been the relations between the national and state governments.

2.       Today, an effort is underway to reduce national gov’t powers, giving more strength to the states; this effort is known as devolution.

                                                               i.      Some proposals give states block grants in which states get money that they can spend in any way they want—as long as it is within broad guidelines set by Congress.

3.       Federalism is the political system in which local units of government and a national government make final decisions with respect to at least some governmental activities and whose existence is specially protected; both local and national forms of government have their own sovereign powers and some powers that overlap, thus making the two share authority.

                                                               i.      The United States, Canada, Australia, India, Germany, and Switzerland have federal systems.

                                                             ii.      France, Great Britain, Italy, and Sweden have unitary systems in which the national government can abolish local governments at will and have the final say in all important gov’t matters.

                                                            iii.      Federalism works in practice due to the people; the USSR technically had a “federalist” gov’t, but in reality, the Kremlin controlled the “states.”

a.       It takes the commitment of the people to support a slightly independent local gov’t and the same desire from the Congressmen to allow local governments to exist.

                                                            iv.      The national government, while owning sweeping powers, actually exercises most of those powers through state, county, and city governments.

4.       To some, federalism means allowing states to block actions, prevent progress, upset national plans, protect powerful local interests, and cater to the self-interest of hack politicians; to others, it means developing mechanisms vital to governmental strength, political flexibility, and individual liberty.

                                                               i.      Federalism allows people to pass laws according to local interest, and even though some may pass bad laws, others may pass laws to counteract the previous “bad” laws.

                                                             ii.      EXAMPLE: In England and France, local groups would have no success in trying to ban the landing of Concorde jets in local airports, but in the U.S., such groups have actually won.

5.       According to James Madison, since there are so many diverse interests, only a large government (like the U.S.) can adequately have the maximum number of sides to be heard, as opposed to small nations, where not as many interests could be known and argued.

6.       Federalism is more likely to get the average Joe interested in politics because there is a more likely chance that what Joe does will have an effect on politics and on his life.

                                                               i.      This is due to the numerous elected representatives in all levels of gov’t.