Federal Government & Local Problems
This is an excerpt from the paper...
National government should intervene to a large extent in solving state and local social and economic problems. Social and economic problems such as drunken driving, child abuse, educational quality in America, and aid to families with dependent children are issues too important to be left to the states. If one broadly interprets the United States as a nation united, we are one people, not separate states. Because the whole is greater than the sum of its parts, national theory (which takes a far more generous view of the powers and responsibilities of the federal government) is theoretically a more viable stance than compact theory (which takes a far less generous view of federal power--in fact, the states and the nation are opposed).Federalism, the distribution of governmental power between a central authority and its constituent parts, poses serious questions of political philosophy. Do state and local governments really express the national will? Are state and local governments capable of providing for the national will when they are acting upon exclusive and inward-looking concerns for their own distinct interests? Samuel H. Beer points out, "Throughout our history, [national theory] has informed and supported the broad against the narrow construction of the constitutional power of the federal government . . . however, it is not merely a doctrine of centralization. As its advocates at the time of the founding continually emphasized, the national point of view not
. . .
elty of this kind of distribution of power was that it was weighted more heavily in favor of the states. The fundamental changes in intergovernmental relations occurring as a result of the "new federalism" may require a closer look at the traditional role of the participants in state policymaking. If it did not call for outright elimination of programs, the "new federalism" specifically redirected many of the functions originally handled by the federal government.
The shift away from a centralist government during the Reagan years is enumerated by Hamilton, and it is worth noting in its entirety, as an indication of how far a shift can take a nation away from "national" to "local" concern. The "new federalism" effectively: (1) redirected all federal aid to state government, (2) reduced federal regulations and requirements, (3) reduced or eliminated state and local reporting to federal agencies, (4) deleted programs for citizen participation in the formulation and adoption of programs. By a reduction of intergovernmental aid, Reagan achieved a significant shift in the federal-state balance of power.
It is interesting to note that Reagan's "new federalism" was like Johnson's "new federalism," only in the opposite direction.
. . .
Some common words found in the essay are:
Delta Airlines, Issues Federalism, , Unfortunately Reagan, Beer Throughout, Dependent Children, Johnson's Society, Supreme Court, Christopher Hamilton, Rights Amendment, federal government, local governments, social economic, takes generous view, theory takes generous, shift centralist, dependent children, generous view, created patchwork, federalism created patchwork, aid families, families dependent children, federalism created, aid families dependent, reagan administration,
Approximate Word count = 1459
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page)
More Essays on Federal Government & Local Problems
|
Customer Service
to Over
32,000 Professionally Written Papers!!!
