Federalism

 Group I A political system which has a national government as well as smaller, more local branches of government such as state and municipal. It can only be a true federalist government if the states exist independent of the preferences of the national government and can make some decisions on their own. For example, the United States is a federalist government. Germany, Switzerland, Canada, and Australia can be considered federalist governments as well.
 * Federalism comes from the latin verb fidere meaning to trust**
 * WHAT IS FEDERALISM?**

A unitary system, in contrast to a federalist system, is where local government and local matters are for the most part handled by the federal government. France, Great Britian, and Italy are all unitary systems.
 * A UNITARY SYSTEM**

Some experts say that federalism blocks progress. It does so by allowing states to prevent federal progress and upset national plans in order to protect their own local interests. Although some argue that it is beneficial because it allow smaller political factions to become dominant where it benefits them and the area. It is also helpful as it allows local governments make laws and pass measures that help them out but would be unneccessary for the federal government to handle. See //Federalist No. 10 [|For Fed. No. 10 Click Here]//
 * FEDERALISM, FRIEND OR FOE?**

Another benefit of federalism is that citizens in a federal system often participate in politics more. The chance of a citizen having an effect on the government is greater when there are more political offices and constituencies, therefore the typical citizen is more likely to get involved.This also lowers the cost when a government decentralizes its authority.
 * MORE POLITICAL ACTIVITY**

The goal of the founders was to create a device in which personal liberties was protected. They feared that placing power in the hands of a few people even when they are popularly elected risks tyranny. Although under the Articles of Confederation ,which was a cofederation where people create state governments who in turn create a national government, what states created they could also destroy and the abscence of a powerful national government also threatened the national security. During the Articles of Confederation co-operation between states was very low and as a result little got done.
 * THE FOUNDING OF FEDERALISM**

The founders aimed to create a "federal republic" where the power is derived from the people for both the federal and the state governments. As was envisioned by the founders both governments would have powers but neither would have supreme authority over the other. This was an entirely new concept that was never tried in history before. The constitution is very vague about the powers of the states, it was not until the Tenth Amendmant, that states "the powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states are reserved to the states respectively or to the people."
 * A NEW PLAN**

The founders found it difficult to accurately spell out the relationship between the state and federal government. This is why they are vague with the necessary and proper clause which simply allowed congress to pass any law that was necessary and proper to carrying out its mission. Jefferson was a strong advocate of states rights while Hamilton was a strong advocate of national supremecy.
 * ELASTIC LANGUAGE**

The most relevant case that challenged the necessary and proper clause was the case of //McCulloch v. Maryland// (1819) which was about whether the state of Maryland could tax a federal bank. Eventually the Supreme Court stated that even though it is not a responsibility of the federal government in the Constitution to create a bank, it does have a responsibility to regulate commerce and in this case creating a bank was neccessary and proper to regulating the commerce, in this case the supreme court ruled in favor of the federal government.
 * THE SUPREME COURT AND FEDERALISM**

Nullification was a process in which a state could declare null and void a federal law if they believed it was unconstitutional. This was eventually ended by the North's victory in the civil war which determined that the federal union was undissoluble and states could not declare acts of congress unconstitutional, this was eventually made law by a supreme court case.
 * NULLIFICATION**

After the Civil War the debate on the meaning of federalism arose. From this discussion emerged the doctrine of dual federalism. This stated that the national government would be supreme in its sphere, the states were equally supreme in their own sphere and these two spheres would be kept seperate. A larger concept of dual federalism is applied to interstate comerce and intrastate commerce and which one Congress can and can't regulate. The distinction between these two are unclear and still argued.
 * DUAL FEDERALISM**

Until recently Congress and the Supreme court could pass any law regulating almost any kind of economic activity. This all changed starting in 1995 with the //United States v. Lopez// case that held that congress exceeded its powers by prohibiting guns in a school zone. In 2000 with the //United States v. Morrison// case the court ruled that attacks against woomen are not interstate commerve and therefor congress cannot pass a law allowing women who are victims of a crime motivated by gender to sue in federal court. The courts continued to strengthen states rights. States can do anything that is not prohibited by the Constitution or preempted by federal policy. States have a power known as police powers that promote health, safety, and morals. States adopt their own Constitution, which are rather long and detailed, along with the U.S. Constitution. These state constitutions include rights to its people and gives them chances to direct democracy. Three ways of direct democracy provided by states is 1) initiative, 2) referendum, 3) recall. The existance of states is protected by the federal constitution which allows no state be divided without consent, only 2 senators per state, and all states are assured a republican form of government. The existance of cities, towns, and counties depend on the states opinion of them.
 * STATE SOVEREIGNTY**

The national governement would allocate money to the states to pay for education as well as to help pay for canals or railroads. Few of these grants were used until the 20th century. They continued growing in usage in to the 1960's were they became very popular. Because of their popularity, they still continued growing even to today and now provide over 400 billion dollars a year to states and local governments. This federal money was so popular because: the money was there and able to be used, if the government needed more they could print more but if the states needed money and borrowed it they had to pay it back in full, finally, this money was basically free money. A governor could in sense take the money one second, and then the next denounce the government for handing out the money so easily the next. Because of this money given out like this, these grants were in high demand. However, a downside to this is if one state receives money for a reason, other states must also receive compensation for that reason. For example, Bush and other congressional leaders increased federal funds and as one would expect cities such as New York City received tens of millions of dollars for aid. However, the congress uses formulas called fair-share formulas that allocated money to small places like Grand Forks County, North Dakota with a population of 70,000 that received 1.5 million dollars to purchase supplies against terrorism.
 * FEDERAL STATE RELATIONS**


 * Group II

Grants-in-aid**-This is money given to the states by the national government.


 * Intergovernmental Lobby**- In the 1960's, grants shifted away from what the states wanted to national needs. States and local officials formed the intergovernmental lobby. The purpose was to obtain more federal money money with few strings attached. They were in fact successfull until the early 1980's where their success has dwindled since then.


 * Categorical Grants**- This is a grant designed for only one purpose defined by federal law. An example is to build a college dormitory. The grant usually requires that states pay at least in part for the grant; however, the "match" in money they provide is usually small. Unfortunately, the purposes of these grants were so small it was hard for states to fit national needs into local needs. The solution came about through block grants. However, categorical grants are used much more greatly than block grants. In fact, states have become so reliant on these grants that they realized Washington could start controlling other levels of government. An example to show this is a quote "He who pays the piper calls the tune."


 * Block grants**(a.k.a. special revenue sharing or broad-based aid)- These would combine some categorical grants into one block grant with less restrictions. However, many of these were proposed, yet only 5 were enacted between 1966 and 1980. Between, 1980 and 1995, the block grant amount rose from 5 to 16.

=This is an example of a block grant and its allocation of money= =Preventive Health and Health Services Block Grant from http://www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/blockgrant/= The health needs of communities are diverse, complex, and constantly changing. The Preventive Health and Health Services (PHHS) Block Grant gives grantees the flexibility to prioritize the use of funds to fill funding gaps in programs that deal with leading causes of death and disability, as well as the ability to respond rapidly to emerging health issues including outbreaks of food borne infections and water borne diseases. The PHHS Block Grant has provides all 50 states, the District of Columbia, 2 American Indian tribes, and 8 U.S. territories with funding to address their own unique public health needs and challenges in innovative and locally defined ways.

Funding by Health Program Areas Fiscal Year 2008
 * [[image:http://www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/blockgrant/images/bg_chart08.jpg width="550" height="308" caption="Funding by Health Program Areas FY 2008Total Block Grant Funding to All Public Health Programs: $85,881,291.Total Block Grant Funding to Chronic Disease Programs: $34,683,564."]] ||
 * ||~ **Public Health Programs** ||~ **Amount** ||~ **% Total** ||
 * **Chronic Diseases** || $34,683,564 || 40.4% ||
 * **Infrastructure** || $13,838,316 || 16.1% ||
 * **Access to Health Care** || $9,096,318 || 10.6% ||
 * **Other Programs** || $8,865,003 || 10.3% ||
 * **Sex Offense** || $7,418,065 || 8.6% ||
 * **Injury** || $7,000,172 || 8.2% ||
 * **Immunizations/ Infectious Diseases** || $4,979,853 || 5.8% ||
 * ~ **Total** || **$85,881,291** || **100.0%** ||  ||   ||~ **Chronic Disease Programs** ||~ **Amount** ||~ **% Total** ||
 * **Education/Community Based Programs** || $12,639,038 || 36.4% ||
 * **Heart Disease and Stroke** || $9,282,508 || 26.8% ||
 * **Physical Fitness** || $3,716,586 || 10.7% ||
 * **Nutrition/Overweight** || $3,502,583 || 10.1% ||
 * **Oral Health/ Fluoridation** || $3,248,689 || 9.4% ||
 * **Diabetes** || $1,291,953 || 3.7% ||
 * **Cancer** || $883,651 || 2.5% ||
 * **Arthritis** || $118,556 || 0.3% ||
 * ~ **Total** || **$34,683,564** || **100.0%** ||  ||

Operational Grants- usually for state child-care purposes
 * 3 Types of Block Grants**

Capital Grants- usually for building items such as local wastewater treamtment facilities

Entitlement Grants- usually for transferring income to families and individuals


 * 2 biggest block grants ever- Welfare (AFDC) or Medicaid (introduced by Johnson)**




 * Revenue Sharing**(a.k.a. general revenue sharing/GRS)- This means that the federal governement shares so much of its revenue with the states. It began in 1972 where no requirements as for states to have to help pay as well (matching) and the money could be spent on almost any governmental purpose. The money was distributed by a statistical formula that took into account items such as population or local tax effort.

These grants were supposed to provide monetary relief and come without strings. To some extent that occured, however, more categorical grants occured in the 1990s and no new block grants arose. Ergo, more strings came with the money.

Congress likes categorical grants because the specificity accompanying the grants gives them more power over how the money is to be used. The same reason rings true for why the states disliked them (more strings are attached to their money). Rivalry among the states Over one hundred out of around 500 grant programs offer money based on the population census. Cities shown to be losing population often lose money as well.
 * Why do block grants grow more slowly thant categorical grants?**

2 types of controls on state governement activities
 * Conditions of aid**- These are requirements states must abide by if they want the chance to receive certain federal funds. Basically, federal money isn't "free." Some states may have federal grants providing almost a quarter of their budet, and this has been occurring for years. Ergo, the people handing out the money i.e. the federal government has a great deal of say in how it is to be used.


 * mandates-** These are requirements if they accept federal grants and even if they do not. Most mandates deal with subjects on civil rights and environmental protection. These mandates may cover pre-existing laws or laws currently being enacted. An example of a mandate ist the Americans with Disabilities Act(1990) signed by George Bush. It required state/business/local government to provide those with disabilities equal acces to employment, transportation, services, and entrance to buildings. The best example of a mandate was school-desegregation plans such as busing.

Devolution- causes include: the beiliefs of devolution's proponents, the realities of deficit politics, and the views of most citizens -Many americans favor devolution