Federalism! What Happened To It And Why Reviving It matters

From Insider Online:

InsiderOnline Blog: January 2011






The Insider: Federalism! What Happened to It and Why Reviving It Matters

The new issue of The Insider is out, focusing on the very important topic of federalism. Here’s the rundown from the editor’s note:



If competition encourages businesses to work harder to satisfy customers, then why can’t competition make government better and cheaper too? We used to have a system of competition between state governments. Called federalism, the idea was that each state could choose its own policies, and this variation would lead states to discover what works and what doesn’t—a “laboratory of democracy.”



Today, however, the typical taxpayer sees over 80 percent of his income taxes going to the federal government. Meanwhile, around 20 percent of what states spend comes from the federal government, and that money comes with instructions on how to spend it. These facts mean, as Veronique de Rugy and Stefanie Haeffele-Balch point out, that there is less variation than there could be in both the price we must pay for state governments and the services we receive from them.



Letting states choose their own policies would increase competition, and no doubt lead to better policies. But what happened to federalism in the first place? The answer, as Ted Cruz and Mario Loyola detail, is essentially that progressives rewrote the Constitution.



The problems could get worse. Obamacare, as Robert Moffit explains, represents a federal takeover of health care that will deprive citizens of choices in one of the most important areas of their lives. Lindsey Burke, meanwhile, shows how new federal education standards will lead to a race to the middle rather than a race to the top. Reviving federalism can help in both these areas.



Keep in mind, federalism is important not because state governments are the repository of all wisdom, but rather because federalism keeps government within reach of the people. In order for self-government to work, however, citizens need to be watchful of their government. Helpful here, as Robert Bluey details, is an organization called the Franklin Center, which is working hard to make sure investigative journalism thrives at the state level.



Finally, Heather Sexton gives some pointers on running a great intern program.



Posted on 01/14/11 02:58 PM by Alex Adrianson
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