Federalism

Thursday and Friday in class, we spent time going deeper into the concept of Federalism. Not just what it is but how it works. In previous classes, we learned that Federalism is one of the principles we believe in American government. The concept of Federalism is that some power belongs to the National government and some power belongs to state and local governments. Some powers they both share.

Hurricane Ike was an excellent example of Federalism in action.

We watched clips of President Bush speaking about what the federal government. He urged citizens effected by the hurricane to listen to their state and local authorities who made decisions for their safety. Notice he did not say he himself would be making these decisions. He also said that the federal government would be providing the money needed to recover from the disaster. This was the national response to the disaster.

The local response to hurricane Ike was much different. The city and county governments were responsible for things like issuing mandatory evacuations and city curfews. Local government will also be responsible for things like cleaning up debris and picking up trash from the storm. They will also have to fix stoplights and other public utitilities that were damaged.

Federalism doesn't just kick in when there is a disaster. There are differences in the responsibilities for government every day too.

Here is a chart that shows the different responsibilities of the national and local government on a day to day basis.

You will also need to know where there are examples of Federalism in the U.S. Constitution. If you look at Article 4 you will find three clauses that dictate how the states are to interact with each other:

Full Faith and Credit- each state must recognize the valididty of the laws, public records and court decisions of every other state

Priveleges and Immunities- states cannot discriminate against people from other states

Extradition- rules for how states must turn over their citizens to other states where that citizen has committed a crime

You should also know that when the U.S. Constitution was written, no one ever imagined the national government would have as much power as it does today. The power has been streched over time with the "Elastic Clause" also known as the "neccessary and proper clause" that says the Congress can make the laws that it needs to in order to do its job. The 10th amendment which says all powers not given to the national government are reserved for the state often gets lost in the shadows of the elastic clause.