Federalism Essay Example For Students

Federalism Essay Federalism is a political system comprised of several local units of government and one national government that can both make decisions with respect to at least some governmental activities and whose existence is specially protected. Sovereignty is shared so that on some matters the national government is supreme, and on some matters the state governments are supreme. But in the last twenty-five years, the increase of federal mandates on state and local governments has shifted the balance of power between national and state governments. The national government is beginning to have more control over the states actions. Federal mandates are rules imposed by the federal government on the states as conditions for obtaining federal grants or requirements that the states pay the costs of certain nationally defined programs. In a large nation, there are bound to be diverse needs which can be met by the state government. This subdivision of government also leaves the national government to deal with much broader topics that involve the whole nation, without having to concentrate on these individual needs. The political system that Federalism is based on democracy. A democracy is a government run by the people, in which either people themselves make the laws and enforce them as a governmental body, called a direct democracy, or they elect representatives to express the views of the people, known as a representative democracy. There are two types of representative democracy, presidential and parliamentary. . The social system of Federalism under this democracy is summed up fairly well by Carl Becker, a distinguished political historian. Becker said that the basic beliefs surrounding a democracy are within the creativity and individuality of the people. Because of this freedom of individuality, political parties have come about, in which people with the same political views can join togetherand support each other, two examples being the Republican and Democratic parties in the US. Aside from letting individuals speak out, democracies see all humans as equals and government will only exist if these people agree that it is working well. Although democracies have not been common in history, the ones that did exist succeeded in governing their people well, such as the one in the United States today. The economy that works best with Federalism is capitalism. This economy began with the theoryof laissez faire, or a hands off economy. What this means is that once the economy starts rolling, the government does not rule over it. It is left alone to change and govern itself. This economy is based on competition between the citizens of the nation, called free enterprise. People want to earn as much money as they can, but in order to do this they need to work hard to compete with everyone else who have the same motives. Prices fluctuate based on supply and demand. The government does not set a specific price for any goods or services. A perfect form of capitalism has never been accomplished, but the modern day United States is very close. Under Federalism, the military is not mandatory. People can join if they want to, but do not have to, unless the country is at war and they are drafted. A military seems to grow particularly well in a Federalist society. Currently, the Federalist military of the United States is the largest in the world. Military is also not idealized, meaning it is not the most important part of Federalism. In the US, the president is also the head of the military, showing that government comes before the army. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- .