Federalism or Fragmentation? Rethinking the Balance of Power
The United States is not one government — it's a layered system. Power is divided between the national (federal) government and the 50 individual states. This structure is called federalism.
Federalism is one of the Constitution’s core principles. It gives states the power to govern themselves in many areas while allowing the federal government to handle national concerns. But today, that balance feels uneven and, at times, dysfunctional.
Different laws, different lives: Whether you can access abortion, vote easily, or get health coverage depends heavily on where you live. A person in California and a person in Mississippi may experience entirely different realities.
Education and opportunity: Public education is mostly run at the state and local level. That leads to massive disparities in school funding, teacher pay, and educational outcomes. Should something as fundamental as education be so unequal?
Public health and safety: COVID-19 showed us the limits of state-level responses to a national emergency. Conflicting rules, uneven resources, and political divisions led to confusion and, in some cases, tragedy.
Justice and criminal law: Each state has its own criminal code. That means the same act may lead to vastly different consequences in different parts of the country.
Federalism was meant to strike a balance between unity and local control. But when that balance leads to fragmentation and inequality, we need to ask: Are we still serving the people — or just maintaining a system that no longer works?
Photo by Hans Isaacson on Unsplash
