Federalism Reflection

It is hard to believe that the semester is almost over already. The time has really flown by because it feels like we just started a few weeks ago. This is because of how interesting this class was. The format that this class took was nice being able to interact with the other students through discussions rather that the form I am used to of just doing my assignment and never getting to know the other people in my class. It was nice to be able to see other people’s opinions and how they took in the lesson for that week. It was this interaction that helped to drive home may of the lesson this I had trouble understanding and reinforced my understanding for those I do. There are many different lessons that were explored throughout the semester

Before discussing the federalist structure of the government and how it affects the policy making system I will first discuss what federalism means. When reading from the textbook from the course federalism was defined as “a system of government in which power is shared between the central… and other governments” (Birkland, 2011, p.61). Meaning that on one governmental agency has more power than another. This structure that allows for a sharing of powers between the federal and state governments is used by The U.S. Constitution. This idea of federalism is directly discussed in the Tenth Amendment which is known as the reserved power clause and states, “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people” (Bill of Rights, n.d.). The separation of powers between the three branches of government is provided by the Constitution and this separation is what helps in preventing the government from “acting without carefully considering the costs and benefits of new policies” (Birkland, 2011, p.61).The judiciary, legislative, executive branches are the three branches of government that are regulated by the system that based on the ideas presented in federalism in that no one branch has the same or more power than the other, and in the constitution this system is known as checks and balances. The main impact that the federalist structure has on the federalist structure is that it “impede[s] rapid and radical policy change” (Birkland, 2011, p.61) by intentionally slowing down the process. The evidence of the impact of the federalist system is something that you can clearly see when you look at how our country has struggled to make changes in policy that