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...Federalism" program of President Richard Nixon's first term, I am struck by a paradox in domestic policy now that hinges on how our federal system works.
Nixon's "New Federalism" had a decidedly progressive cast, although not many people know about or recall this. A key component was more fiscal aid on a more flexible basis to state and local governments in the form of revenue sharing and block grants (Nathan 1975, 12-34).
In more recent decades, federalism has been touted as a good thing by conservatives. Ronald Reagan as president stressed the Tenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution (which "reserves" powers to the states), making the argument that various national proposals for new domestic programs should not be federal responsibilities but instead should be viewed as appropriate for the states. Some observers believed that the subliminal message was not that the states should carry out the programs involved, but that no government should do so. The George W. Bush administration has gone Reagan one better, forthrightly arguing that in domestic policy areas no government should do things that some liberal interests and organizations favor.
REDISCOVERY BY LIBERALS
The paradox is that federalism is being rediscovered by liberals. Representative Barney Frank (D-MA) recently was compared to states' fighter and former U.S. senator Strom Thurmond when Frank argued that the states (with Massachusetts out front) should be the arbiters of gay marriage (Foer 2005). (1) Barney Frank is not alone. Other liberals see the states, particularly states with liberal leaders, as the appropriate governments to deal with many program issues:
* Protecting Medicaid--The federal government has tried several strategies to slow the growth of the Medicaid program, which aids the elderly, the disabled, and poor families. But since the program has a broad constituency of recipient groups (not just the poor) and multiple provider interests, states have fought hard (and so far pretty much successfully) to shield Medicaid from Washington's retrenchment efforts.
* Cleaning Up the Environment--This is a policy area in which many states are ahead of the curve compared with the federal government, as shown by the nine-state Northeastern Accord to freeze power plant emissions and similar regional efforts underway in California, Washington, and Oregon (DePalma 2005).
* Equalizing School Aid--Hard-charging activists in many states are pulling every lever--judicial, executive, and legislative--to distribute school aid in ways that give more aid to poor core-city and rural communities and provide more aid overall.
* Providing Public Infrastructure--Although the Federal Highway Act is a big factor in the transportation field, activists at the state level generally see states as their best avenue for rehabilitating, maintaining, and constructing new roads, schools, parks, and other public facilities. Some of this is old-fashioned pork barreling, but that does not diminish its importance in providing facilities for services advocated by the supporters of public education, libraries, economic development, the arts, recreation, parks, and so forth.
The same point applies for regulatory issues:
* Minimum Wage--This is a good example of an area where some states are out front nationally. According to a USA Today article (Cauchan, 2005) seventeen states covering 45 percent of the national population have set minimum wages above the federal rate of $5.15 an hour.
* Stem Cell Research--Following California's lead with its $3 billion bond issue to support stem cell research, other states have joined the parade, notably Illinois, Connecticut, and New Jersey.
* Sex Education--This, too, is not a good area for liberals to pursue nationally, the expectation being that any action would cater to the rigidity and the intense concerns of religious fundamentalists.
* End-of-Life Decisions--One could argue that the 2005 debates on the Terri Schiavo case in Florida was an example of states' favoring more liberal positions than those of President George W. Bush and Florida governor Jeb Bush.
* Teaching about Evolution--While not a likely area for federal policymaking, still it is another example of a sensitive subject that from a liberal point of view is best left to the states.
This is a sampling of issues that spurs liberals to look to the states at a time when the conservative cost-cutting mood in Washington is not propitious for them. Every day, in similar ways, issues move around in American federalism. There is the case, for example, of a bill to combat the use of methamphetamine in cold medicines. The congressional sponsors of a national law sided with states, in this case Oregon, that "wanted to be tougher than the federal law" (Barnett 2005). In a more recent Oregon case before the U.S. Supreme Court, the question at issue is whether the U.S. attorney general (John Ashcroft in 2001) could abrogate a state law that permitted the administration of drugs to assist suicides. The Wall Street Journal sided with the state, referring specifically to the way in which liberals are discovering federalism in an editorial aptly entitled, "The New New Federalism" (Wall Street Journal 2005; see also Greenhouse 2005).
There has been similar back-and-forth debate involving the Supreme...
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