Blog # 3 [Make Up]

Week 2

    Read and reflect on Chapter 2, Federalism & the States. How do state and local governments differ from the Federal government? Why do we have them? What kinds of authority is left to the states v the Federal government? Why do both the state and Federal levels of government sometimes fall short? Write a blog entry answering these questions.

The State and local governments do differ from the Federal government in terms of scope in regards to decision making, along with the relatively small region and number of people affected by the decisions. Also differing is the fact that the federal government (in theory) can make laws that should affect every single local jurisdiction. Though as the book says, that is at times very hard to do. 

We have local governments because as the book said often “the [level of] government closest to the problem is the best equipped to help” which is not the case 100% of the time, but does tend to be the rule for garbage, education, property taxes etc. i.e. things that involve regional economic adjustment. Cases where this is not the case could be with an outbreak violence or hate crimes- that is where federal law enforcement can and should help the locals. 

As for why local and state governments are so empowered within the American federalist system, it comes down to perhaps the time we have spent in the system.  Because as we have developed as a sovereign federalist nation “States and localities can customize their pol­icies to accommodate diverse demands and needs--and, indeed, such het­erogeneity flourishes.” Because in truth regulating a nation-essentially the size of many nations smashed together with unique regional-and hyper regional needs is incredibly difficult.

State and local governments fall short for some of the same reasons that the federal government falls short at times. If their is a knowledge gap or the absence of someone with the specialized knowledge to complete the task. For state and locals that would be anti-terrorism enforcement or maintaining true defensive postures during major events. There is a reason the Super Bowl is run by the FBI and department of homeland security two federal organizations, who in turn work hand in hand with the local authorities. When Super bowl 50 came to Santa Clara, the Feds and the Sheriffs office worked together to takedown many of the human trafficking and sexual slavery rings, that pop up around major tourist events like the super bowl and the Olympics. Showing an area where local governments do not have the ability, intelligence wise, financially or legally to shut down an interstate or transnational sex ring. Link to the story here


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Blog 17 [make up] Done with modules.

 Taxes, the most toxic, hated word in the American political lexicon for 98% of Americans no matter where on the political spectrum they are. That is because it requires people to pay their own money back into the state, which will always be failing at something. Which leaves many Americans feeling like their tax dollars are being abused, misspent, or downright stolen. However as we read in class, there are many kinds of different taxes, with different purposes, and implementations. Taxes found in Santa Clara County San Jose: San Jose is the biggest city in the County and within the region. Given that, there is a tremendous strain on the city resources. Thus a remedy to this was to pass a tax on the cities thriving Retail and Medical Marijuana Stores. The result is a 10% tax on gross receipts, separate from the state, and county tax. Meaning that patients with Cancer and other serious medical issues payed upwards of 25% on their uninsured, unsubsidized medicine. Former Supervisor ...
Read more

Blog #7 [Make up]

 In the first page of the reading, the author fills out the CST definition of solidarity . A fundamental concept when attempting to understand how society operates, and the underlying mob/mass psychology at play. The author reasons that interdependence is not only a necessary fact but also a massive value to society. The base of solidarity seems grounded in the success of humanity such as our great architectural monuments, that took great thinkers to engineer, strong people build, and wiser ones to maintain. They then used this concept as a block to talk about two other major concepts found with CST. These are The Common Good and Participation. See that solidarity or the interdependence of one another leads to caring about the common good. They defined the common good as the understanding of the importance and value of goals beyond personal. Solidarity and the common good build on each other, because a community practicing solidarity would naturally be working towards the common g...
Read more

Blog entry #1[Catch UP]

 This Week I began my mad dash back to join the class, which meant cracking through chapter one for reflection. Having a background in local politics means I am familiar with many of the concepts found in the first chapter. However the one I thought was the most thought provoking to focus on was the Interjurisdictional conflict and collaboration that has to occur everyday.  A very good example of the conflict that can occur is between The City of San Jose and the County of Santa Clara over Sanctuary laws. Here is  the link  to the San Jose Inside story about the specific case, the city was using as justification for their stance.  The Mayor of San Jose Sam Liccardo and the city's former Police Chief Eddie Garcia were demanding Santa Clara County change its sanctuary city policy for the second a little just over a year after it was uncovered that a suspect involved with a fatal stabbing at Grace Baptist Church was in fact undocumented. The current county policy b...
Read more