Federalism Writing Assignment
Assessing Federalism in the United States: Advantages and Disadvantages There are many advantages and disadvantages to federal systems, of which the benefits outweigh the negatives. This paper will briefly analyze
the advantages and cons of federalism in the United States, and compare American federalism with other systems of the authority.
Among the benefits of federalism is that it retains state powers and local conditions while at the same time establishing a strong national government that is capable of handling typical problems (Sidlow & Henschen 49). The federal government is also well suited in the United States due to its country's large size. Sidlow and Henschen (pg. 49) suggest that even the days when the United States consisted of only thirteen states, it was still hard to manage then through a unitary system or any other system leading to slow communication and isolation of a few states. The nature of the government also enables the experimentation of innovative policies and programs at the state levels, which when applied to other states may work well. Lastly, the United States federal system promotes subcultures (Sidlow & Henschen 50). It ought to be noted that the country is characterized by numerous groups of people who have different cultural, religious and political views which are supported by their local governments.
As already identified in the introductory paragraph, federalism has a number of drawbacks. Chief among them is the high probability of political dominance at the state level by a single political group (Sidlow and Henschen 50). This would mean that a particular segment of the population would be segregated and feel inferior as their voices would not be represented in the government. Federalism in the US has the potential of preventing and blocking national progress, an element that has led to the adoption of many policies on a single issue which in turn leads to confusion. Most significantly the practice encourages economic disparities among across states. Economic disparities lead to vast differences in basic amenities such as housing, schooling, food and health care, which have a profound impact on citizens.
Alternatives to Federalism: A comparison to Unitary and Confederal Systems In a unitary system, the constitution vests all the …
