A New Birth of Federalism

The response around the United States to the coronavirus pandemic has given prominence to the governors and to differences between States. Perhaps this could be an occasion for people to become more aware of federalism as one of the basic elements of our polity, and maybe even to think about it.

When I was in school, I learned about our founding: the revolutionary war, the inadequacy of the Articles of Confederation, the Constitutional Convention, the ratification of the Constitution, and our history under the Constitution. Central to this study was the work of the Constitutional Convention. The delegates recognized the need for a stronger federal government than that established by the Articles of Confederation, but they knew that they must prevent the central government from becoming a monarchy. To prevent a monarchy or a tyranny from arising, they developed three principles for the federal government: limited government, separation of powers, and federalism. Limited government meant that the federal government's authority would be limited to the areas specified ("enumerated") in the text of the Constitution. Separation of powers meant that the powers of the federal government would be divided among three branches of government — legislative, executive, and judicial — each independent of the others and each having only some portion of the overall authority of the government. And federalism meant that the States, having held sovereign power before the adoption of the Constitution, retained full governmental sovereign power except for the enumerated powers granted to the federal government.

I suppose that this was widely taught to members of my generation in history and civics classes. Every "boomer" should have learned it. Unfortunately, I fear the lesson has been lost or forgotten over the decades with the result that now most people look to the federal government to solve all major problems, and tend to consider the president responsible for everything that the federal government does. There are several factors for this development. The first goes back many generations. The Civil War, with its emphasis on preserving the Union, shifted people's focus from their States to the Union. Nowadays, virtually nobody would feel the kind of loyalty to his State which was commonplace in 1860, an example of which is Robert E. Lee's decision — as a Virginian — to join the army of the Confederacy. A second factor is the expanding reach of the federal government, especially as the economy became more unified — for example the Interstate Commerce Commission. There were also such things as Social Security and the establishment of the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare. Finally, it seems to me that civics education is no longer mandatory in schools, with the result that recent generations have grown up with many people unaware of limited government with enumerated powers, separation of powers, and federalism as fundamental to our form of government. I fear that Donald Trump spoke for many in his generation and following ones when he stated that the authority of the president is total.

In all this, the prominence of governors and the recognition that it is appropriate for different states to have different rules provides a reason for a bit of hope. If influential people with wide audiences begin to speak seriously about federalism, perhaps the principle can again become on which guides political thought and action — to the benefit of liberty. It will probably require academics to make themselves heard on talk shows. If enough manage to do it, the message can become heard and discussed even among those who are inclined to look first and always to Washington.