When it comes to economic regulation, so long as they remain within the proper scope of their power to protect the rights, health and safety of the public, fifty states can experiment with different regimes of legal regulation so the results can be witnessed and judged rather than endlessly speculated about.
States will be somewhat inhibited in imposing restrictions on businesses by the threat of regulatory competition. Businesses small and large can decide to relocate if they deem a particular scheme of regulation to be too onerous. When it comes to liberty, the competition provided by federalism empowers the sovereign individual. Each person can individually control the state in which they live by selecting from among fifty choices, not just two.
And they can witness the economic opportunities that result from different state polices. In a federal system, people are then free to move to another state for a better job, or for a cleaner and safer environment. Because their decisions will have tangible effects on their lives, it is far more rational for individuals to investigate the difference between states than it is the difference between political candidates. This dynamic is much less powerful at the national level, because individuals are much more reluctant to leave their country than their state.
When it comes to social policy, the preferences of individuals loom even larger than with economic policies. Different people subjectively prefer to live in different types of communities, not only due to differing opinions about morality, but simply as a matter of taste.
Given that, by their nature, communities must be one type or another, it is best to have as many different communities from which to choose as possible to satisfy the range of individual tastes, preferences, and moral commitments. A rich diversity of preferred lifestyles can only be achieved at the local level. As with economic policy, sub-national competition between social policies in a federal system imposes a salutary constraint on state governments by threatening an exodus of dissenting citizens to other states.
On the positive side, with fifty states to choose from, it is far more likely that a person can find a state or municipality with a social environment in which they are more comfortable than if one social policy is imposed on the United States as a whole. The cost of exiting one state for another is far lower than exiting the United States when one disagrees with a national policy.
In all these ways, liberty is more robustly protected by confining lawmaking to the state and local levels in a federal system, than moving all such decisions to the national level. There is another, and potentially even more powerful, way that federalism protects the individual sovereignty of the people. When any issue is moved to the national level, it creates a set of winners and a set of losers.
We can avoid this by ensuring that as many issues as possible are handled at the personal level of the individual person, which is why individual liberty is the ultimate means to the pursuit of happiness for people living in society with others.
Because of the competitive processes I have already described, reinforced by federal checks on state power, such individual liberty is far better protected at the more local level than at the national.
Again, it is not that the social and economic policy issues protected by a diversity of state regulations are less important than those handled at the national level. So, the more important the issue, the less is it fit to be decided at the national level.
For all these reasons, the United States has been a far more prosperous and contented country because of its federal system. Federalism cases have always posed a dilemma for judges. The federal government is supposed to be a government of limited powers. Legal doctrine, in sharp contrast, has its limits, and it has failed the Court time and time again.
So therein lies the tragic choice of federalism doctrine: do nothing or do something. In their efforts to limit federal power the Rehnquist and Roberts Courts have offered us two kinds of federalism decisions. Some start with the states. To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several states, and with the Indian Tribes;.
To establish an uniform Rule of Naturalization, and uniform Laws on the subject of Bankruptcies throughout the United States;. To provide for the Punishment of counterfeiting the Securities and current Coin of the United States;.
To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries;. To provide for calling forth the Militia to execute the Laws of the Union, suppress Insurrections and repel Invasions;. To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining, the Militia, and for governing such Part of them as may be employed in the Service of the United States, reserving to the States respectively, the Appointment of the Officers, and the Authority of training the Militia according to the discipline prescribed by Congress;.
Foreign Policy U. Liberal Politics U. Robert Longley. History and Government Expert. Robert Longley is a U. Facebook Facebook. Updated February 03, Constitution grants the U. Featured Video. Cite this Article Format. Longley, Robert. Constitution: Article I, Section 8. Types of Federalism: Definition and Examples.
The 10th Amendment: Text, Origins, and Meaning. Every order, resolution, or vote to which the concurrence of the Senate and House of Representatives may be necessary except on a question of adjournment shall be presented to the President of the United States; and before the same shall take effect, shall be approved by him, or being disapproved by him, shall be repassed by two thirds of the Senate and House of Representatives, according to the rules and limitations prescribed in the case of a bill.
The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts and excises, to pay the debts and provide for the common defense and general welfare of the United States; but all duties, imposts and excises shall be uniform throughout the United States;. To regulate commerce with foreign nations, and among the several states, and with the Indian tribes;.
To establish a uniform rule of naturalization, and uniform laws on the subject of bankruptcies throughout the United States;. To coin money, regulate the value thereof, and of foreign coin, and fix the standard of weights and measures;. To provide for the punishment of counterfeiting the securities and current coin of the United States;.
To promote the progress of science and useful arts, by securing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries;. To define and punish piracies and felonies committed on the high seas, and offenses against the law of nations;. To declare war, grant letters of marque and reprisal, and make rules concerning captures on land and water;. To raise and support armies, but no appropriation of money to that use shall be for a longer term than two years;.
To provide for calling forth the militia to execute the laws of the union, suppress insurrections and repel invasions;. To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining, the militia, and for governing such part of them as may be employed in the service of the United States, reserving to the states respectively, the appointment of the officers, and the authority of training the militia according to the discipline prescribed by Congress;.
To exercise exclusive legislation in all cases whatsoever, over such District not exceeding ten miles square as may, by cession of particular states, and the acceptance of Congress, become the seat of the government of the United States, and to exercise like authority over all places purchased by the consent of the legislature of the state in which the same shall be, for the erection of forts, magazines, arsenals, dockyards, and other needful buildings;--And.
To make all laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into execution the foregoing powers, and all other powers vested by this Constitution in the government of the United States, or in any department or officer thereof. The migration or importation of such persons as any of the states now existing shall think proper to admit, shall not be prohibited by the Congress prior to the year one thousand eight hundred and eight, but a tax or duty may be imposed on such importation, not exceeding ten dollars for each person.
The privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall not be suspended, unless when in cases of rebellion or invasion the public safety may require it. No capitation, or other direct, tax shall be laid, unless in proportion to the census or enumeration herein before directed to be taken. No preference shall be given by any regulation of commerce or revenue to the ports of one state over those of another: nor shall vessels bound to, or from, one state, be obliged to enter, clear or pay duties in another.
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