A constitutional arrangement by which power is equally distributed between a central government and state governments. But minority rule can further these goals as well. or local level is essential in such critical areas as The first is administrative We have long believed that political participation matters for equality. For example, red states and blue states alike objected to some of the PATRIOT Acts expansive surveillance and detention rules as an attack on civil liberties. No one wants to be a member of a party whose victories are all in the kill, whose only role in national politics is that of the gadfly. Or consider marijuana. solutions developed by state and local governments. Cities, too, have an uncooperative role to play, especially in the immigration context. Cities and states have long been at the center of the fight over national values. This creates a heavy incentive for moderation and compromise. . We have long understood minority rights as furthering those goals, which is why we care so much about them. Many crown jewels of the national progressive agenda are similarly the product of progressive federalism. achieve progressive goals. But the shorthand the Times was using wasnt about school quality; it was about which group dominates the student body and the school committee. They fought for them, pushing reluctant national leaders to do the right thing. One might accept all of these arguments and yet still worry about local power because of the twin problems of racism and parochialism. They worry that those who are most in need of government action are unaided by blue-state policies. So, as a result of the federalism doctrine created by conservative justices, President Trump and the GOP-dominated Congress dont have many sticks with which to bludgeon uncooperative states and cities. In their view, these programs came about precisely because blacks were able to elect their candidates of choice in majority-minority districts. When Virginia made it easy to buy a gun, guns flooded into New York City despite its rigorous firearms prohibitions. Take climate change: From green building codes to cap-and-trade, the bulk of the work on the issue is being accomplished outside of Washington. Among these promising localities is New [] The last example should steel progressive backbones in advance of the coming health-care wars. Progressives have lost the federal government and are seeing the merits of decentralized solutions to problems posed by Trumps policy proposals. political disagreements on the responsibilities The San Francisco City Attorneys Office, with which both of us work, has used this power to great effect: It has sued tax preparers, mortgage lenders, and prescription drug companies for violating federal law. false Which of the following is an implied power of the federal government? We have long thought that minority rights further economic and political integration. But the odd thing about a rights strategy for protecting dissent is that it pushes dissenters outside of the project of governance. You join up with the governmental unit that you think will be most favorable to your agenda.. Instead, it relies on states and localities to carry out its policies. Diversity is a much-revered term for the idea that institutions should look like the community from which they are drawnthat they should look like America, to use one of Bill Clintons favorite phrases. It can be a source of resistance Government action at the federal, state, Perhaps it reflects their sympathy for the underdog. The federal government during the Obama Administration has been deeply engaged with states, perhaps more so than any time since the 1960s. Blue states can use this money to preserve their favorite parts of the current law, pushing health-care policy leftward from within the Republicans own framework. Thats why President Trump has a lot more incentive to compromise with Democrats in Sacramento than with those on the Hill. Racism, Parochialism, and the Costs of Local Power. trust in government institutions and elected Our political system is immobilized; the issues that matter to everyday citizens are stuck in the frozen political tundra we call Washington. If stripping federal funding for a program enacted within the same statutory scheme is a problem, then theres little chance that Congress can strip all federal funding across all programs simply because states refuse to take part in one of them. This process built popular acceptance of same-sex marriage and explains why the Supreme Courts nationwide ruling in Obergefell v. Hodgesa decision that would surely have caused intense controversy before states started to actwas greeted enthusiastically by an overwhelming majority of Americans. laboratories of democracy, experimenting We expect dissenters to speak truth to power, not with it. California prohibits businesses from engaging in unlawful, unfair, or fraudulent activities. Jefferson feared a centralized government would lead to European-style tyranny and, along with James Madison, he founded the Democratic-Republican Party to push back against monopolistic financiers. They should remember the crucial lessons of the same-sex marriage movement: In the United States, change generally comes from the bottom, not from the top. A regional initiative of ten northeastern states laid the groundwork for the Clean Power Plan. Heres how they can put it to use. Progressives were right to worry about federalism in the past. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS)released the first of its name and shame lists lastweek, intent upon intimidating 96 sanctuary cities towns, cities and counties that refused requests from Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to detain undocumented immigrants in order for federal agents to pick them up. We often associate federalism with conservatism, but that's pure foolishness on our part. Admittedly, this argument involves a more rough-and-tumble account of democracy than we read in our civics textbooks. Often, Washington Republicans wont bother to repeal a statute or undo a regulation, because doing so takes time and risks legal challenges. But ours is a system where local power can turn outsiders into insiders, integrating them into a political system and enabling them to protect themselves. We suspect that most progressives arent even aware that the Democrats have lost 27 state legislative chambers since 2008. Even if Trump doesnt have to make nice with Democrats on the Hill, hell need the support of Americas progressive enclaves to actually get things done. The problem is that progressive views on dissent exhibit the same shortcomings as our discourse on race. In place of the dignity of voice, we have the dignity of decisions. Is progressive federalism an oxymoron? Often, cities refuse to assist in deportation effortseither because they disagree with those efforts on principle or because they believe that undocumented residents will be less likely to report crimes if they fear immigration consequences in the face of such uncooperative localism, there is little the federal government can do. We have a firm sense of what integration or diversity looks like: a statistical mirror. But dont confuse the Democratic-Republican Party with the current Democrats and Republicans, or the Federalists with contemporary federalism they are different species. As a result, all cars, whether sold in San Francisco or Texarkana, meet Californias high standards. Care to venture a guess as to The New York Times headline? In that case, the Court struck down a gun-control provision that required local law enforcement to carry out background checks, effectively ensuring that uncooperative federalism would be here to stay. But Arizonas recently enacted immigration law has galvanized national debate and forced elites to engage. But having a Democrat in the White House was just too tempting for most progressives. Politics can play an important role in promoting economic integration, and economics can play an important role in promoting political integration. By closing this banner, scrolling this page, clicking a link That is why the term states rights is to this day a dog whistle for racists. We have long looked to deeply rooted rights as tools for promoting equality and protecting dissent. When dissenters have an opportunity to govern, however, they must figure out how to pour their arguments into a narrow policy space. Their recalcitrance won out: The Bush Administration gave up and granted states so many waivers that they effectively gutted the federal program. Instead, we saw a peaceful if slightly carnival-like atmosphere, with the only source of excitement being the Gay Mens Choir. We join de Tocqueville in celebrating the eccentric charms of local democracy, but our tastes in bureaucracy run with Weber: impersonal, rationalized, and hierarchical. It would be silly to argue that minority rule is without costs. Thats precisely what Ernie Chambers wanted to do; he thought the new arrangement would ensure that school quality would not suffer. The president, Congress and the Supreme Court often hog the spotlight, so it is easy to forget that the states were here first. If one is debating something in the abstract after all, the hardest argument to defeat is the parade of horribles. Built by Tierra Innovation. programmatic grants (earmarks) . alone cant solve these problems; indeed, it Examples of uncooperative federalism abound. Or give the gift of Democracy to a friend or family member. In each of those cases, minority rulewhere national minorities constitute local majoritiesallows minorities to protect themselves rather than look to courts as their source of solace. This piece originally appeared on BillMoyers.com. At the political level, the United States It would be useful for progressives to recognize that fostering dissent involves not just the First Amendment, but federalism; not just minority rights, but minority rule. It empowers racial minorities and dissenters not by shielding them from the majority, but by turning them into one. And its not just history that blinds us to the possibilities associated with decentralization and minority rule; our very idea of equality inspires wariness. the principles of federalism, step up to offset The Court has condemned majority-minority electoral districts as political apartheid. A conservative majority also held in City of Richmond v. J.A. Our terminology is bimodal. Think, for instance, of Governor Arnold Schwarzeneggers claim that there would be rioting in the streets in response to San Franciscos decision. Progressive Federalism Wednesday, February 1, 2017 at 12:10PM - 1:00PM Room 121 Open To The Public Add to Calendar: Description While progressives have long been skeptical of federalism, progressive federalism could prove to be an important defensive tool for progressive advocacy under a Trump Administration and Republican Congress. Tyson, L. D., & Mendonca, L. (2017). The federal government cannot hire its own cops or teachers or put its own bureaucrats at every desk. Civic inclusion was the hardest fight. demonstrated success in maternal and child Readers and donors like you make what we dopossible. To be sure, uncooperative federalism will not always result in a progressive victory. Their success shows that federalism is a neutral and powerful tool for change, not an intrinsically conservative quirk of U.S. government. Given its many virtues, one might wonder why anyone would quarrel with the notion that democratic bodies should look like America. In the worst-case scenario, states threaten secession and it leads to civil war, as it did in 1861. there should be a shift from top-down programs Jefferson, an educated owner of 10,000 acres and 200 slaves, wanted the country to remain a nation of farmers in control of their own destinies (and of the grim fates of their slaves) and he advocated for maintaining strong state power. progressive to federalism, my main point is that federalism doesn't have a political valence. Thats presumably why the Trump Administration is so panicked about so-called sanctuary cities. These municipalities have refused to assist with certain types of deportation efforts (for instance, instructing police not to ask about a persons immigration status). the delivery of federal programslinking billions Progressives have lost power in Washington. If they were to pass a law like Californias, empowering state attorneys general and city attorneys to sue in order to enforce federal law, they could do the work that the Department of Justice might neglect in the coming years. That option is simply unavailable when dissenters use local power to issue a decision. Excluding the military, it employs just short of three million personnel. These sorts of bold pronouncements are not mere bluster. Amsterdam-based #nonprofit @spununderground is producing a first-ever map of the worlds mycorrhizal fungal network twitter.com/i/web/status/1, Join #SSIRLive! The most obvious is that these institutions may be different from the racial enclaves of Jim Crow. Given the slim chances of Democrats winning back Congress in 2018, many think that the best progressives can do is hunker down for the next four years, blocking legislation on the Hill and challenging it in court. . Federalism is not intrinsically conservative And even national standards on fuel efficiency and the like have emerged largely as a result of states like California using their policy-making power to prod national regulators to move forward. (Marble Cake) Creative Federalism the type of federalism that shifted more power towards the national government by bypassing state governments and allowing the federal government to have direct control over statewide programs. Copyright 2023 Salon.com, LLC. Republicans have responded to this challenge by abandoning their stated commitment to decentralization and threatening to strip all federal funding from sanctuary cities. Throughout history, both progressive and conservative federalism has beenopportunistic. As Heather They can achieve the same results by diligently heeding every safety and quality control regulation so that factories grind to a halt. Progressives are deeply skeptical of federalism, and with good reason. But at the Constitutional Convention of 1787, the goal was to form a more perfect union that would provide military security and a more open system of trade, while retaining the rights of states. This comprehensive measure promised to regulate private health insurance and extend affordable coverage to more than 30 million Americans, mostly people with low or lower-middle incomes. New Federalism Lenny Mendonca is co-founder and board chair of FUSE Corps, former senior fellow at the Presidio Institute, and former senior partner emeritus at McKinsey & Company. With a US federal government divided and unable to address key social problems, state and local government leaders have a critical role to play in fostering local social innovation. Progressives, of course, care a good deal about nurturing and protecting dissent. using the subnational governments in the US The effects of turning the tables are not, of course, confined to racial minorities. challenge grants, pay-for-performance will state, city, and local leaders from the public Croson Co. (1989) that a minority set-aside program is more constitutionally suspect because it was enacted by a black-majority city council. Democrats have won a super-majority in both houses of the California legislature, and its governor, Jerry Brown, seems to be spoiling for the fight against Trump. As in the context of race, we often laud minority rights because they can knit political outliers into the polity. But the major social and economic And its time progressives recognized that federalism isnt just for conservatives. Our national system is notoriously sclerotic. Alexander Hamilton versus Thomas Jefferson. The odd thing about the progressive case for local power is that it is utterly familiar to those on the ground. Finally, states and cities should remember that they have the power to set the agenda. As Heather Gerken, distinguished scholar of progressive federalism, argues, progressives can respond to President Trump and congressional gridlock by using the substantial powers of federalism both cooperatively to shape national policies, and uncooperatively to resist national policies at odds with progressive goals. But they are making a mistake. It was trying to elbow out a little space for the federal government to exist too. The result, he says, was a rough balance between the government and constituent states, and at each level there is a huge range of divisions of power. When either the states or the national government thinks the other is overstepping its authority, it turns to the judiciary, which serves as a referee. We have long associated minority rights with material advancement and expressive dignity for people of color. The former made headlines in December by boldly claiming that California would launch its own satellites if the federal government abandoned its climate research. The 2016 election year may be remembered Article I, for example, lists Congress enumerated powers and anytime theres a list says Young, lawyers will ask if it is exclusive or representative. (And one of the authors of this essay has spent more than a decade arguingincluding in the pages of this journal that federalism doesnt have a political valence.) If rights are the only protections afforded to racial minorities and dissenters, we risk treating both groups merely as what Stanford Law Professor Pam Karlan calls objects of judicial solicitude rather than efficacious political actors in their own right.. The most important guarantors of racial equalitythe Fourteenth Amendment, the Civil Rights Act, the Voting Rights Actwere passed at the national level and resisted at the local level. Professor Gerken and Professor Schleicher will discuss how states and local governments can become centers of empowerment for progressives, and just how much momentum left-leaning states can maintain under the Trump Administration in areas like welfare/social services, the environment, education, and immigration, among others. Laura D. Tyson is a distinguished professor of the Graduate School and faculty director of the Institute for Business & Social Impact at the University of California, Berkeley, Haas School of Business. Progressives have to make their case to the American people, just like everyone else. sector responsibilities, though they can play Federalism is a powerful weapon no matter what your political preferences. 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