PoliSci 405 Midterm

“States are Labratories of Democracy”

Individual states have the ability to test policies, ideas, and initiatives (given that they don’t interfere with the Constitution bc of the supremacy clause) and see if those concepts could be implemented on a federal level

Ways States are Similar

-Number of senators

-Voting age

-3 branches of government

-Levy taxes

-Representative (republican) government

-Privileges & immunities clause

-Full faith & credit clause-Constitutional frameworks

-Public service (education, law enforcement, etc)

Ways States are Different

-Diversity

-Median income

-Educational achievement

-Congressional delegation

-Culture and history

Moralistic

Emphasis on common wealth to get people to participate in politics

Individualistic

Emphasis on marketplace, government/politics is transactional

Traditionalist

Maintain lasting social and political traditions

Politics is a privilege where the people are a hierarchy

Similarities between State Consititutions

-Tripartite divisions of government

-Initial statements of rights in accord with natural law

-Mechanisms to amend

Differences between State Constitutions

-Length, detail, and specific rights

-Requirements and processes for budgeting and finance

-Line-item veto

-”Almighty” references

-Ballot initiatives

-Referendums

Ways State Constitutions can be Changed

-Legislative proposals

-Ballot initiatives/referendum

-Constitutional convention

-Constitutional commission

Dual Sovereignty

Where the national government has sovereignty in some areas and the state governments have sovereignty in other areas 

Also overlapping/gray areas

“New Federalism”

1980-2002 where the central aim was to reduce federal grants-in-aid and the remaining grants shifted to mostly block grants instead of categorical

Pushback with “New Federalism”

Conservative business owners who disliked that tax and regulations now came from all 50 states versus before with one federal government → more rules to adhere to

Ad Hoc Federalism

The way of adopting either a state centered or nation centered ideology depended on partisan ideologyU

Unfunded Mandates

Federal government rules that states or localities must do something but doesn’t provide the funding (or enough) for them to implement said rule