I. Introduction

A.  Lots of layers of govt: 85,000+ govts—1 fed govt, 50 state govts, over 22,000 county and municipal govts, as well as more than 60,000 town, special, and school district ones

B.  Textbook definition of federalism: “federalism is a form of govt in which a constitution distributes powers b/n a central and subdivisional governments”

C.  The initial conception of federalism as "two or more govts exercising power and authority over the same people in the same territory" gave rise to

1. James Madison assumed that the NTL GOVT would concern itself with "the great and aggregate interests" whereas state govts would attend to "local and particular" matters

D. The adoption of a federal system of govt was seen as a solution to the problem of diversity and heterogeneity and the attendant political maneuvering confronting the young nation

II. Defining Differing Versions of Federalism: Dual and Cooperative

A. The Burns textbook describes several different forms of federalism: dual, cooperative, competitive, permissive, “new”. We just focus on 2 however—dual and cooperative

1. Dual Federalism: the supremacy of state's rights is the major focus of dual federalism. From this perspective, the Constitution is a compact b/n sovereign states and therefore views states as powerful components of the federal system.

a. in other words the two levels of govt operate on different tracks, and each is in control of its own activities. Rigid wall separates the states and fed govt

b.  metaphor: layer-cake--implies different layers of govt that do not mix or share power in their own spheres

c.  obviously favors local rather than ntl standards

2. Cooperative Federalism: from this perspective, the Constitution represents an agreement or compact made by the people, who are citizens of both the state and the country and so people looking at federalism this way envision the states and ntl govt as intertwined, rather than as acting in separate spheres

a. in other words, the ntl and state govts undertake functions jointly

b. metaphor: marble-cake--implies different layers intermingle at different levels and in various spheres

B. What ignited the debate?

1.the Constitutional sections that have caused the federalism debate are Article I, section 8 and the 10^th Amendment

a. Article I, section 8: enumerates the powers allotted to Congress and includes the necessary and proper, or elastic clause

i.  from necessary and proper clause come implied powers or those that are NOT spelled out but that can be implied belong to the federal govt

ii. Defended by those advocating an expanded role for the federal govt--after all they say, framers couldn't have anticipated all the powers needed by a new nation and its govt

iii. Those that advocate cooperative federalism point to Article I, section 8 of the Constitution

b. 10^th Amendment: says "powers not delegated to the US by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people"

i.  States Rights advocates interpret the 10^th amend as placing firm limits on the scope of the ntl govt

ii. Civil War 1^st real test of scope of ntl govt power. States righters lost the war

iii. Those that advocate dual federalism point to the 10^th amendment

C. Reality is that federal govt didn't play much of a role in the 19^th century, so the federalism Q wasn't so important. The Civil War and Reconstruction are obvious examples where the federal govt expanded its role and reinterpreted Article I, section 8 to expand its powers. However, reconstruction didn't really work and the expanded powers were temporary

D. It really wasn't until the early 19^th century (Progressive era, income tax act 1913) 1930s under FDR (New Deal era, expanded role for govt in economic sphere) and in the 1950s and 1960s (civil rites era and LBJ's "war on poverty") that the scope of the ntl govt expanded--ntl govt programs requiring state and local govts to act changed the nature of federalism

E. More recently, however, we have witnessed a sort of DEVOLUTION of power from the federal govt back to the states--good ex is welfare. New reality: federal govt seems to be disengaging and returning responsibilities back to the states. Nice but problem is that many state and local govts don't have the resources to meet the needs of their citizens

III. Discussion

A. Discussion questions:

1.  Some things to think about

(1) fact that about 40M Americans do not have health care

(2) fact that the public education system doesn't seem to be producing very good or competitive students (most stats say scores are down, achievement is down, etc)…in fact system is so dire in many urban and rural settings that many poorer parents and students are looking to vouchers as a possible solution

(3) what about the problem of child poverty: 25% of America's children live under poverty line…

2.  Questions: think about the pros/cons of federal involvement in these areas

(1)  should Washington DC set standards for the nation on these probs?

(2)  What is the proper balance b/n a unified solution and local autonomy?

(3)  Which of these issues, if any, should be locally determined?

(4)  Which of them require ntl legislation and enforcement?

(5)  How does the USA compare w/other nations in terms of these allocations of responsibility?