Читать книгу American Democracy in Context - Joseph A. Pika - Страница 97

Issues involving federalism affect you daily, whether you realize it or not. They have provoked heated debate on a wide array of issues that range from sanctuary cities to education policy, health care reform, and same-sex marriage.

Except for a few tiny nations, all countries have more than one layer of government; they have not only a central, national government but also regional governments (called such things as states, provinces, regions, or cantons, depending on the country). Federalism—a defining characteristic of the U.S. Constitution—requires that power be divided between these two layers of government. In the United States, the duty of interpreting how the Constitution delineates these powers falls to the Supreme Court. Whether its members are cooperative federalists or dual federalists makes a huge difference. Cooperative federalists read constitutional clauses broadly to expand the power of Congress. Dual federalists, on the other hand, see such expansion as an invasion of states’ rights. Congress’s ability to enact Social Security, minimum wage laws, gun control legislation, child labor laws, and an individual mandate that requires everyone to purchase health care insurance are only some of the issues that hang in the balance of this debate. So, too, is the ability of states to pass more stringent environmental standards than the federal government, to allow the use of either medical or recreational marijuana, and to determine minimum drinking ages. To understand these debates, we must first explore the roots and functions of the U.S. federal system.