The United States was founded on a Revolution. Many people believed that Thomas Jefferson was an Anarchist, because he created moments of Anarchy, but in the end he helped create a "More Perfect Union". The Revolution most people think of when they think of Revolution is a Communist Revolution, or the Counter Revolutions to the Communist Revolutions; and that is because the Communist Manifesto is relatively new in terms of Human History. But Revolutions have previously not been about Communism, and a Proletariat class V a class of Capitalist or Feudalistic self indulgent overlords who actually spend time thinking of ways to make the Proletariat do more for less. Most Revolutions were about Liberty, and were based on ideas similar to the of Plato's Republic. The Liberty Cap and Liberty Pole (also called the Phyrgian Cap) is a common symbol in this form of Revolution, and Assassination is a common theme in this form of Revolution ("Sic Semper Tyranus" or "As Always to Tyrants").
Federalism is the idea behind the United States Constitution. The idea that we are Voluntarily Governed, and that there is no "Ruling Class" in this Country, no one is in charge here, and anyone can be taken out of office (no Assassination necessary). The idea that there are 3 Competing Branches of Government in the Congress, President and Supreme Court. The Acknowledgement that no one is probably right when it comes to Politics, and Religion, and anything like that, so we will have a Government that Acknowledges all the Factions within the Country, and works to make everything as equal as it can for all of them. An example of how far we have strayed from this concept is that we can't figure out how to teach Shias and Sunnis anything about this concept, and we seem to think it is just all about Voting and Democracy. Republicans and Democrats are Factions; they don't do anything that lasts Centuries and they may even be the downfall of America. Classical and Neo-Conservatism and Classical and Neo-Liberalism completely Hijacked this country, Abraham Lincoln may have called himself a Republican; but he was a Federalist who preserved the Union; and now we have a "State of the Union Address".
http://digitalcommons.law.yale.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1009&context=fss_papers
This Paper linked about is called "Slicing the American Pie" and it is about Federalism V Personal Law Systems. So Federalism is not just a random 3rd ideology in America, like Greens or Libertarians. Federalism is literally the Legal System we operate under as a Nation. The Paper explains the 2 systems, and I will summarize here. The best way to explain Federalism is to first explain the Personal Law System. In a Country where there is Personal Law, like India, every Religion has their own rights; for example, in India Muslims are allowed to have multiple wives, but Christians aren't. In America the State is the "Personal" part. Colorado Law is different than Texas Law is different than New York Law is different than California Law, but they all Submit to the Constitution and the Supreme Court.
Most people don't realize this but there are actually 3 forms of Law:
First is Fundamental Law, this is the Constitution which sets up the Rules for President and Courts and Congress, the Constitution is the thing that makes those people have a job. Without the Constitution you have no Contract with those people, and if they violate the Contract it can be invalidated and replaced.
Then there is Statutory Law, this is the Law that the Constitution says Congress can write, such as Law for "Commerce between the States, Indian Tribes and Foreign Nations". The Controlled Substances Act, or the Patriot Act, or other Acts of Congress like that are what create "Statutory Law", which is then Codified into the USC.
And last, but absolutely not least, is Case Law. This is the real Law. The Constitution may say something, but you may not interpret it the same as the Supreme Court, because they have been seeing cases for about 300 years now, and have been seeing situations in which the Constitution becomes more clearly defined in their eyes, and it gets passed down into case law.
The reason it seems to most people like your lawyer doesn't do much and the Judge just makes Arbitrary decisions is because it takes time and effort to go through the years and years of Case Law, and actually find out if there is an argument for your Case. Your lawyer would much rather just look at what happened in that County, over the past 5 years or so, and just go based on that, and not deal with it any further, and you pay him. And maybe he'll try to see if the Judge will answer a motion to Dismiss if you are lucky and got a good lawyer. If these layers would actually put in the effort to read all those books on the shelves in their office, from Cover to Cover, highlighting all the stuff they found to be profound; we would have a much better legal system.
Look up "Writ Writers". Every lawyer should be able to write a Writ, but almost every single Writ Writer in America started as a Jailhouse Lawyer. Meaning: someone who was in Jail and learned the Law there, and not from ever stepping foot in a Law School. If you look up "Writ Writers" on Google it is going to bring up a bunch of stuff about people who learned Law from inside Jail.