POL 51: American Government

Fall 2022

Name: Adam Altam

   Have you ever started to Question federalism? Hello to all my classmates I will be discussing a meme I created that symbolizes the government concept of Federalism and why I believe Federalism has a lot of negative effects on Democracy. To break it down we need to understand what is Federalism According to an article on the Cornell Law School website, Federalism is a system of government in which the same territory is controlled by two levels of government. Generally, the central government shares some power with smaller regional governments like states. In addition, I believe Federalism has many bad aspects such as capital punishment for which the death penalty can be avoided by a criminal who committed murder/murders depending on its jurisdiction. Another reason why I think federalism has a bad aspect is that some states get taxed much higher than others because of federalism.

  One of the reasons why I believe Federalism has bad aspects is because of capital punishment. In addition, what I mean by that is the death penalty can be avoided depending on the state’s jurisdiction. For example, according to the Death penalty information center, it states “The use of the federal death penalty in jurisdictions that have themselves opted not to have capital punishment—such as Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico, and many states.” This sentence “Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico, and many states”, is significant because it explains how in those specific states criminals can avoid the death penalty even if the person committed murder. Another example from the Death penalty center article states “Many states—have raised particular concerns about federal overreach into state matters.” This sentence  “Concerns about federal overreach” is very important because it explains how federalism can interrupt state matters such as capital punishment. To summarize federalism can overrule the death penalty in some states which is the reason why it’s a bad aspect of federalism.

  Leads to another reason why I believe federalism has bad aspects is because of taxes. According to NCSL calculations by the Bureau of the Census state “Caused by the 67% increase in taxes in the united states collected by the federal government.” The reason why I chose this quote is that it explains how taxes increased in some states because of Federalism In Addition the federal government has the power to tax us high. Another example as claimed by the Bureau of the Census state, states “The federal government occupies the majority of the income tax base, receiving 87 percent of all income tax revenue.” In addition, This “sentence receiving 87 percent of all” is significant because it shows a huge increase in taxes because of federalism. To summarize because of federalism theirs an increase in taxes in certain states. 

   In conclusion, This meme I created represents why we should question federalism because of the many bad aspects it has on our democracy. In addition, the example of bad aspects of federalism is capital punishment and high taxes. Another bad aspect of federalism examples  I haven’t mentioned is encouraging ridiculous pass ridiculous laws such as “It is illegal in Arizona for a donkey to sleep in a bathtub” according to an article by Natalie Regoli. In addition, there are some benefits to federalism, but in my opinion, the negative outweighs the positive which was why I question federalism.

Self-grade evaluation:

I believe the work I’ve done on the meme assignment deserves 15 points. In addition, the reason why I believe this assignment deserves 15 points is that Essay explains the American government concept clearly, using at least one properly cited quote or paraphrase from assigned course readings. Finally, there is no grammar errors, its well written and has the right amount length of 4 paragraphs.  

Honorable Source mentions:  

–https://connectusfund.org/15-advantages-and-disadvantages-of-federalism

–https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/state-and-federal-info/federal-death-penalty

–https://www.ncsl.org/documents/fiscal/statefederalandlocaltaxes.pdf