Question
"If the authors of the Federalist Papers could see America today, what do you think that they would say about the balance of power between national and local entities?" - dbruce
Response
While the Federalist Papers do help interpret the United States Constitution to this day, I think since the creation of the Federalist Papers the U.S. government has shifted slightly back and forth from federalism. The Federalist Papers, along with the United States Constitution, called for a greater separation of powers. One of the main arguments while creating the Constitution was between the Federalist and the Antifederalists. One major concern was that the government would have too much power. Because of this the Bill of Rights was created to protect the natural rights given to each person at their time of birth. I think that to this day, there is a constant battle between the federal and state government. The country has needed to evolve the meaning of federalism since the creation of the Constitution because of the different needs in society at different periods in history. In a time of crisis, like the Great Depression, the federal government had to step up and take a stronger hold on the country to best help it recover. Because the federal government naturally has more powers over the state government, the scale may always continue to tip towards a country with a noticeably stronger federal government than a state government.