What is federalism?

What is Federalism? Because "Fed" is in federalism, many people think that it means a large government. It's a system where people in Washington decide what's best for the people. What is being defined here is liberalism. What is being defined here is fascism.

What is Federalism really? It's actually the opposite of a large government. It's a system where the people closest to a problem solve the problem. If you have a spill in your house, the people most capable of knowing how to remedy the problem is not a person sitting at a $1,000 desk in Washington. It is the person overlooking the spill. It's the person living in the house.

So, Federalism is a system where the communities closest to a problem solve the problem. This is why local communities do a vast majority of things. They decide where stop signs go. They decide where city parks go. They decide what rules should be in the park, and what signs should be up. They decide opening hours for parks. They decide closing hours. They decide how many workers there should be. They decide wages. When there is a problem, they solve it.

If you relied on Washington to solve problems, you have to go through all the red tape. You have to go through all the bureaucrats. By the time the problem gets solves, all these bureaucrats will have to have learned about it. They would have to get paid. And this takes time. So, the non-Federalist problem costs twice as much money and takes twice as much time.

But you want your water spill cleaned up right now. So you do it yourself. That's called Federalism. It's solving most problems locally.

It's a system where the people closest to the problem directly see it, deal with it, repair it.

The founding fathers understood the importance of this. That is why they made it so hard to create a large government. They wanted the smallest government as possible. That is why the 10th amendment says, "All that is not covered in this Constitution is reserved to the states (which is the people)."

They wanted the federal government should be limited, small, and uninvolved in local events.

What is the role of the Fed, then? The Federal government is only supposed to do what the States cannot do, and the best example of this is wage war. The states cannot wage war. They can't because they would never decide what to do in a timely manner. There would be disputes. So, this is where Congress, and the President, have to make quick decisions based on the facts they have on hand.

The states also wouldn't have been able to decide on and organize an interstate highway system. So this had to be organized by the Feds. The Feds are responsible for keeping the nation safe, for securing the borders, and for creating a good economic environment where the people can prosper. That is it.

The states decide on abortion, education, healthcare, welfare, bathroom laws, etc. That's Federalism. The powers not delegated to the government is left up to the states to decide. Those who rule otherwise are "liberally" defining the Constitution and the Founding intentions.

Three advantages of Federalism, and why it should be respected

One of nice things about the United States (nice if you are a traditionalist) is Federalism, whereby two or more governments share powers over the same geographic region.  The U.S. Constitution grants certain powers to the federal government and the state governments.

For example, under Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution, grants the U.S. Congress certain powers, often called enumerated powers, such as coining money, regulating interstate trade and commerce, declaring war, raising an army and navy and to establish laws of immigration.

Things the states cannot do are listed in Article I, Section 9. Among these, states are forbidden from coining money, entering into treaties, charging duties on imports and exports and declaring war.

Under the 10th Amendment, powers not enumerated by the Constitution, such as requiring drivers license, defining and creating rules for marriage, creating laws regarding abortion, creating and maintaining an educational system, or powers not specifically enumerated in the Constitution are left to the states or the people to decide.  

Federalism was an ingenious plan for a couple reasons.  

1.  It gave the Federal government just enough power to establish and maintain a stable infrastructure, such as creating and maintaining a postal service, a military, to regulate commerce to create a stable economic environment, etc. 

2. It prevented the Federal government from making laws that would infringe upon state and natural rights.  In essence, it told Congress what it could rule upon (enumerated powers) but what it could not rule upon (10th amendment). 

3.  The founding fathers thought Federalism was a good way to prevent the federal government from passing laws that created risky programs that might bankrupt the nation.  They knew it was okay for a state to create risk because the federal government would be able to bail out the state.  Yet if the federal government took a significant risk and failed (and Obamacare is a great risk), protections created by the Constitution would likewise fail.  It is for this reason only states are allowed to create laws regulating abortion, healthcare, education, etc. If one state does well, others may copy.  Yet if one state fails, others won't copy.  That's a major advantage of Federalism, allowing sort of a trial and error system within the states. Yet if the federal government fails, who will bail us out?  The founders thought of this, and that's why they created a system of Federalism. 

Bottom line: Federalism was a system to limit the scope and power of the Federal government, and to protect state and individual rights. It was meant to prevent the federal government from getting out of control.