Federalism and State Legislators
How State Legislators understand and relate to Federalism in 2022
PART 1: SURVEY OF CENTER-RIGHT STATE LEGISLATOR COMMUNITY
Four descriptive terms emerged in state legislators’ description of Federalism:
Examples of descriptions of Federalism:
States rights and sovereignty
Local control and proximity
Proper Balance / Role
Other: Republic; Empowering
“System of governance where smaller units of country retain autonomous control over substantial parts of policy”
“Balance of state and federal powers by defining what belongs to state and federal responsibility of powers”
“The Constitution gave powers to States that we want to keep; don’t let Federal Gov't try and take over and infringe on states rights”
Federalism Activated
Federalism Activated
11%
48%
18%
24%
53%
21%
18%
7%
Why Federalism matters
Top five reasons:
1. What happens without federalism – unchecked incompetence, power.
2. States have inherent rights to function as they deem proper.
3. Proximity to decisionmakers - hold accountable.
4. Return to original intent of the power-sharing agreement set forth in the Constitution.
5. A centralized national government serves dense population centers and is out of touch with what non-urban citizens desire.
In their own words:
“Our federal administration is completely out of control, and the way we fight back is to insist on exercising our state rights.”
“We have seen an erosion of the states ability to function as a sovereign entity, succumbing to the control exerted by the federal government -- often through the purse strings.”
“Government is best when government is closest to the people, or as Tip O'Neil famously said, ‘all politics is local.’”
“The Framers originally intended the states to be the powerful entities in America…. States tend to not act in this way now, as a major check on the federal government.”
“Without federalism, this country will be ruled by population centers, with the rest of the country seen as nothing more than donor states, existing to supply the needs of the masses.”
