Federalism

Hi Bloggers! Since the Constitution was ratified in 1787, there have been multiple forms of federalism.                            
           The first form of Federalism was Dual Federalism, also known as layer cake federalism.  This was a narrow relationship between the federal and state government.  This form of federalism gets its name because the federal government was on top and the state was on bottom.  There was little interaction and almost no concurrent powers.  The federal government did not fund anything of the state and only established basic law for the states to rule by.  This ended after the end of the Civil war in 1865.
           Dual Sovereignty Federalism followed.  This was a form was produced from Civil War tensions.  The federal government and the state government were separate from each other.  The states took a lot of power and did not allow federal government to interfere.  The positives to this form of federalism are that the federal government is not as big and controlling.  The negative is that the people didn’t get benefits that are provided by the government today.
          This form of federalism ended and led to Marble Federalism with FDR’s plan called the New Deal in the 1930s.  This was a program that gave money to the poor who needed help and created the National Recovery Association to watch over recovery.  This often included using the Elastic Clause, a clause in the Constitution that allows the federal government to intervene in state government to enforce powers granted by the Constitution.  This type of federalism was invasive into the state government.  On the bright side, it did give people a lot of governmental support.  This type of federalism ended in 1964 with Regan.  He created a new form of federalism called Creative Federalism.
Creative Federalism, also known as Picket Face Federalism was a completely different approach to federalism.  The federal government gave money to the states and worked together to support benefits for the people.  It worked very well until the states took advantage of the system in 1968.  This led to our current form of federalism.
          Fiscal Federalism focused on the power returning to the states.  It uses category, block, and project grants to fund the state government in the form that the feds want.  This form of money giving allows the states to keep power while changing to fit the needs of the national government.  This system leaves both groups happy.  The Federal Government enjoys the power to enforce mandates and instill values into state governments.  The State Government enjoys the power from the national government.  The negatives of this system are seen every day.  Wasted spending to influence state governments and fix problems of the national government.  There are so many ways to enforce a federalist system.  Which way is the best in your eyes?

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