Module 2 - Weeks 2 Q&A Responses

 Larry Feirman                                               State & Local Government @ NDNU in 2021

January 19, 2021                                         Module 2 – Q&A response

 

 

 

Q:       

·      How do state and local governments differ from the Federal government?

·      Why do we have them? What kinds of authority is left to the states v the Federal government?

·      Why do both the state and Federal levels of government sometimes fall short?

 

A:        In the simplest of terms the Federal Government focuses mainly on significant issues concerning the country with a particular emphasis on foreign relations, war, treaties, economic infrastructure affecting the country, where there has to be uniformity (post office, taxes, currency).  States predominant emphasis is on the particular requirements of their citizenry (education, business licensing, marriage -divorce standards, local taxation aside from Federal taxation mandates).

            From a legal, law formulation perspective the Federal government would have jurisdiction for: immigration, social security, copyright and civil rights, vs. State oversight on property, divorce, family issues, Medicaid, unemployment, welfare.

 

            There are times where there is an overlap of responsibilities where the Constitution has granted powers to both the national and state governments (Concurrent Powers).  How those overlapping issues are interpreted and addressed is where many disputes-differences occur occur.  State and Federal issues fall short when the requirements of one state may not be beneficial to the rest of the country(states).

 

 

 

Q:        This turns out to be a great time in the history of our nation to be asking these questions. We’ve seen the integrity of states – their ability to conduct elections, for example – called into question. We’ve also seen, over the past several years, some major decisions in which power devolved from the Federal government to the states – gay marriage, and legalization of marijuana are two areas of the law in which states have led and the Feds have either followed or gotten out of the way. In your blog entry, reflect on any areas of conflict or collaboration you’re familiar with between state and Federal levels of government over the past several years. 

 

A:         In the past four (4) years with a Republican Senate & President, there have been a number of contentious areas that best demonstrates the above.

            The distribution of Covid 19 vaccination, the associated costs for the process and equally as important the shortfall of tax collection at the state level because of business closures, loss of job.  States are requesting and asking for assistance whether that be through FEMA, or a direct assist from the Executive & Legislative branch.  Those efforts have pretty much failed or have come up quite short.

            In another instance when the Executive branch insisted on sending Federal troops to cities in the US with rioting issues (Michigan, Oregon, Minnesota), states have pretty much advised that this was under their control and did not need Federal assistance.  Although the claims from the Executive branch was their involvement was to protect Federal property and assets, states saw this as a direct infringement on their rights.