Difficulties of Federalism

• Allocation of power between national and state/local governments– Ex. Hurricane Katrina

States’ Rights vs. National Authority• Civil Rights

– National consensus that all citizens should be able to vote (some states blocked)

• Economic competition between states– Low taxes (less social services), less

environmental protection– “Race to the Bottom”

Growth of National Government

• Many 1789 local problems are now national• Growth of national economy, transportation,

communication changed people’s attitudes– Great Depression stimulated national action on

welfare, unemployment, and farm surpluses– WWII – federal regulation of wages, prices,

employment, resources, transprotation, inventions, (education post war)

– Growth of gov’t has created a “constituency of, by, and for government”

Devolution

• Post 1968• Major ideological theme of Republican

Party– Size of federal government is a threat to

individual liberty and to the power of the states

– Nixon’s “New Federalism” started process of devolve authority from the national government to the states

• Convert categorical grants into block grants