What Makes Federalism Attractive for All Three American Countries - Essay Example

WHАT MАKЕS FЕDЕRАLISM АTTRАСTIVЕ FОR АLL THRЕЕ NОRTH АMЕRIСАN СОUNTRIЕS Federalism is a system of government which involves the national government sharing some well-defined powers with the state governments. The state governments have their legislature branch, executive and judiciary branch. Federalism enables state governments to make their laws as long as they do not interfere with the set national laws of the land. The state governments are empowered to collect taxes and also develop tax rules and business regulations in their area of jurisdictions. Through federalism, state governments share powers with the national government where they are allowed to make, enforce and interpret laws as long as they do not collide with those set in by the national government. As much as the state governments are empowered with shared responsibilities with the national government, there are those powers that remain solely with the national government. The power to print currency, make and sign treaties and international agreements, control imports and exports are left to the national government. In a summary, the national government is left to take care of the foreign policy. The devolving of power from the national government to the state governments is a sign of development and can make a country more stable and easy to govern (Abueva, 2005). The national government is so big and its functions are vast with numerous responsibilities. It takes a lot of effort and resources for the common citizen to feel the presence of the national government. In this regard, the state governments are a subset of the national government and since they occupy a smaller geographical area their presence can be easily felt by the common citizen. The state government brings closer all services provided for by the national government to the common citizen making them easy to access for all. Because the state government is a symbol of the national government, it is very true to conclude that with the devolving of national power brings the national government to every citizen. The three North American countries which have adopted federalism form of governance are the United States of America, Canada, and Mexico. The three countries have many similarities of their form of governance and social norms. Normally the federal system has a similar impact even when adopted in regions which are geographically distant. The three North American countries have benefited a lot from adopting federalism. The North American states under discussion have citizens from diverse backgrounds with different culture beliefs and practices. The USA, for example, has a very big population. To govern the whole population with a single set of rules is difficult as some rules may only be relevant to certain sections of the country. The enhancement of easy and smooth running of the country it is very important that a country empower states to make their own laws. The law passed in the states will help the states run smoothly saving the national government the trouble of having conflicts with certain regions in the country. State governments when empowered well, help citizens feel as part of the national government as the values which they hold so dear to are always taken care of. Keeping in mind that different regions have different cultural beliefs and practices, a citizen will feel better being in a state which recognizes and respects his/her rights. The citizens, through state governments, are protected from undesirable practices which are not a concern to people of other regions. With regard to the empowerment to the state governments to make laws, the national government is saved some trouble. That by itself should be enough attraction for any national government with diverse citizens to adopt federalism. Countries do not choose where they have located or the kind of group of people which occupies it. Every person in a country becomes a citizen of that country. What this means is that a country will always have grouping of people. Whenever there is a group of people and another different group means that there is some kind of a difference, otherwise, there might have been one group meaning no group at the long run. The difference in these groupings brings the mentality of us against them. There exists a factor which makes each group undermine the other group and the feeling is mutual. When a national government is set up in this environment filled with suspicion, there is no way it can bring one group to agree with the other. The only resort is to govern each group as one entity. When the national government wants all groupings available to feel as part of the country, the state governments come to life. People with similar beliefs and practices live in one area while the others live in a different area. With such a setup conflicts are rare to emerge and in the event they occur, it is very manageable to amicably settle them. The North American countries must have foreseen a dispute management platform when federalizing their government systems. The national government has been endowed with power. Power comes hand in hand with responsibilities and a fair share of problems. One might want to share the problems but then that translates to sharing of power too. When the national government shares its powers and problems with the state governments, this makes it load light. The national government is left with the foreign policy to take care of while the state government solves its internal problems. In the sunrise of this event, the national government will run smoothly. As it is in the best interest of any government to have a smooth ride when carrying out its tasks, then it is the responsibility of the same government to devolve its problems. It should be that the North American nations needed enough time to deal with issues involving national policy and hence sought federalism as the only fix to their concerns. If a government wants a citizen to participate in its policies then it must go to the citizen but not the citizen going to the government. The national government is too big and its responsibilities run from the horizon to the horizon, it is therefore not practical for the national government to go the citizen. If the national government tried to meet its citizens, then it is not practical for it to meet all its citizens. In the case that citizen participation is vital to the survival of the national government; it will go to the citizen through the state governments. When the national government exercises federalism, it reaches the citizen and from there the citizens can easily input their ideas in the policies of the government. In any government; apart from dictatorial maybe; a citizens input is vital its growth. The federalized North American countries needed the citizen's input in their policies. The only way to achieve this smoothly was to federalize their governments. One of the undoubted things that a state government can do better compared to the national government is to provide solutions to problems facing its citizens. The state government will tend to understand the feeling with its citizens better (Spence, 2013). The fact that federalism brings the government to the people means that the national government is left far from the people to solve problems that do not directly affect its people. If a national cares enough about its people, then it should in its best interests to set up structures for federalism. Assuming that Canada, United states and Mexico wanted their citizens feel the help of the government as if it was next door then federalization had to be adopted. When states are given the power and authority to make laws, they may use them to better themselves or otherwise. At any given time, states are competing just as different national governments compete with each other with national policy. When states compete, they make entrepreneurs know where to invest. When entrepreneurs are provided with good terms to do business compared to other areas they feel the helping hand of the national government. When investors thrive, both the state government and the national government grow (Eichenberger, 1994). Would it be possible that federalism in North America was driven by the respective national governments wanting to grow their economy? Federalism means creating jobs. A state becomes a subset of the national government with all its branches. When a state is born; through federalism; it creates as much employment slots as the national government itself. With a state being in a position to make its own laws, more job opportunities may be created in the process. When a state starts to solve the problems of the people for example through the building of social amenities jobs emerge and benefit the people making the more independent in return growing the country’s economy. Some of the state positions involve democratic processes making more citizens serve the government. Some people argue that what make life interesting is experiments and I agree. The systems of government in cannot be tested in the lab as with science experiments. Through federalization, many experiments involving governance have been done without the fear of the collapse of a nation. Different states have been used to experiment different administration designs, governing designs, and even power distribution formats. In the case of those which failed terribly, assuming they had been tried by the national government since it had not adopted a federalized system the results would be catastrophic. The effects of these experiments are mitigated when tried on a state. By devolving power, there are institutions that will oversee what their counterparts are doing. When one is sure that they are being watched over especially by several bodies, they tend to provide good results. Federalism, therefore, protects against tyranny. Federalism, when adopted in the right manner, can guarantee growth and development of a country. It is the gateway to a countries peace leading to a healthy coexistence among diverse societies within the same country. When adopted and supported by all, federalism can guarantee a countries economic growth through providing a healthy environment for entrepreneurs to grow, provide the national government with enough time to invest in foreign policy and assisting the national government in the collection of taxes. Federalism will ensure the citizen's access government services whenever they need them. In the event that a certain society provided intellects who filled national government posts, who would rise up from the left out communities to raise their issues with the government? Federalism should attract all countries which love peace and developments. In the countries where peace is a foreign word, federalism could be the key to solving their problems. Federalism will empower people, the people will empower the society and the society will impact the whole nation. The North American nations have gained a lot from adopting federalism as a way of governance. As much as; from history; federalism has in the overall helped the named nations see better days compared to if they had refrained from adopting the system.   Works Cited Spence, D.B., 2013. Federalism, regulatory lags, and the political economy of energy production. University of Pennsylvania Law Review, pp.431-508. Abueva, J.V., 2005. Some Advantages of Federalism and Parliamentary government for the Philippines. Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism. Eichenberger, R., 1994. The benefits of federalism and the risk of overcentralization. Kyklos, 47(3), pp.403-420. Read More