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What is Federalism?
Since the name would allude to it advocating to a larger "federal" government, federalism actually refers to states rights, and powers it has against the federal government. The argument for states rights has been made since the states were created and is still a convincing option for the U.S. to take in its governance. There are many apparent upsides to increased State power, and Josh Hammer believes that it is the solution to our current governmental issues in America today. One way that states have recently started to flex their power against the federal government is the legalization of marijuana. This highly controversial law is something the states use to take their destiny in their own hands so to speak since marijuana legalization is a state issue as opposed to a federal issue. Many states have followed the pioneer states of California in legalizing weed and some have even taken it further. Colorado and Washington both legalized recreational marijuana in 2012 even further pushing the notion of states power as well as the states political stance.
Why is Federalism the Answer?
One of the most obvious issues that increased state powers would protect us from is central planning. It would be much more difficult to overtake the government and come into power when there are 50 different government bodies that you would have to influence and sway to your side, so the threat of central planning would be stopped by increased states power. Another benefit of increased states government is that the state government is much more Intune with its citizens than the federal government. Decisions can be made faster, votes can be counted faster, and the results would be more in tune with what the people of that state are feeling. However, since there are people in the federal government who are in power now, it will be very difficult to try and convince them to relinquish their power, which makes the hope of this legislation change happening dimmer, but it is still a possibility and slowly showing itself and becoming and more real possibility.