In the context of the United States, federalism is a system of governing that permits both the federal and state governments to share control over the same geographic region. Several countries use this approach to provide social resources and defensive capabilities to the population, although none may use it as extensively as the United States. Federalism in the U.S. creates multiple layers of government, legislation, and responsibilities for people to follow. The typical framework for a community involves city, county, state, and national structures that all have shared authority over a specific area.
Someone such as Thomas Jefferson would disagree with this as federalism allows better representation of the people, allowing those who voted for the party other than the Presidents such as Georgia that have Republican governors but voted Democrat. During the 2020 election, Brian Kemp was the state governor for Georgia, however the state voted a Democrat majority with 49.47% Democrat and 49.24% Republican. This goes to show that the US system of government can still benefit from federalism as the state’s citizens have the freedom to express political opinion in elections with regards to the 1st Amendment.
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However, federalism can be structured to only benefit those who vote with a specific party majority, which could inevitably lead to problematic laws and conventions. It also becomes possible for some population groups to place the wants of the majority over the needs of the entire community. The structures of federalism made slavery and discrimination a continuing issue in the United States until the 1960s. Human trafficking didn’t get outlawed nationally in the U.S. until 2000. This approach to governing was partially accountable for the divide in the 19th century that eventually led to the Civil War because of the preference for slave and free states. When laws get delegated to local communities, there is always the possibility that those rules could be used to harm others one day. This can be seen as an argument for the statement as there is a possibility that federalism can be twisted to favor one group over another should the US system of government fail to stop those twisting their rights.
Another advantage of federalism is that it has allowed the federal government to support states financially for projects which they would otherwise be unable to afford on their own. For example, the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program provides states and territories with flexibility in operating programs designed to help low-income families with children achieve economic self-sufficiency. States use TANF to fund monthly cash assistance payments to low-income families with children, as well as a wide range of services. This use of federalism goes against the statement that the US system of government is no longer true to the principle of federalism as it benefits nearly 5 million recipients every year and can contribute to bringing down the poverty rate in multiple states.
In the contrast to this, the use of grants to states can be damaging depending on what type they are. As an example of this, block grants are a specified amount of funding from the federal government of the United States to individual states and local governments to help support various broad purpose programs, such as law enforcement, social services, public health, and community development. Block grants have less oversight from the federal government and provide flexibility to each state in terms of designing and implementing programs. This can cause problems because the unspecified area of funding could benefit one certain demographic such as men over women with the gender pay gap. In the United States, it is revealed that women receive 80% of what men receive when doing the same job. In a state such as Utah, women are paid on average 70% less than men but in California, women receive up to 90.2% of the equivalent to a man’s salary. The gender pay gap between two states such as Utah and California are an example of how federalism can affect certain ethnic groups, genders or nationalities. However, if topics such as men and women’s salaries didn’t apply to individual states, then the gender pay gap could be closed a lot more substantially.
Overall, federalism can be favored on both sides as it creates benefits for those whose voices cannot necessarily be heard but it can create major problems in social and economic issues such as the gender pay gap. The advantages and disadvantages of federalism show that when a government shares its power, then the system prevents anyone from becoming too powerful. This system implements a set of checks and balances that ensure elected officials or branches of government cannot overstep their authority on any issue. That doesn’t mean some branches of government or individuals won’t try to maximize their power so that they can flaunt it within the system.
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