Video Review – Federalism

In the video titled Federalism, the narrator, Dr. Andrew Rudalevige, explains the idea of federalism in America. The narrator particularly focuses on the advantages and disadvantages of federalism in America. Accordingly, federalism is another part of the separation of power that differs from the one we learned before. In federalism, power is divided between national and state governments, all of which, according to the video, comprise 89,000 governments (Digital@bowdoin.edu, 2016). After watching this video, I feel that the theory of what our government is or is supposed to be is completely different from how it is operated. To elaborate, the separation of power was meant to promote democracy by ensuring the government can be held accountable, encourage economic equality all over the country, and promote political participation. More importantly, it was also supposed to prevent one entity from having all the power.

Nevertheless, even with all these benefits of federalism, things are not as black and white as the federalism theory states. For example, in the video, the narrator explains how the national government can use illegal ways like blackmail or bribery on state governments to get them into doing what they want. The federal government mostly uses annual grants to coerce state governments into doing their bidding; hence, the more a state obeys the national government, the more grants they are bound to get. Therefore, if the federal government can coerce the state government, for example, into changing its policies, then decentralization is not really functional in America.

I believe this video was included in this course because it highlights the benefits and shortcomings of the American government. Further, the video explores the gray area surrounding the separation of power between state and national government. All this information continues to shed light on how different the American government’s ideas and reality are.

Reference

Digital@bowdoin.edu. (2016). Chapter 2: Federalism. Vimeo. Retrieved January 27, 2023, from https://vimeo.com/128986617.

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Watch this video and post a minimum 100-word response discussing your thoughts and feelings. These videos introduce ideas that may or may not coincide with the week’s learning objective or theme.

Video Review – Federalism

• Why do you think this video was chosen for this course (American Vision and Values)?
• For this assignment, you do not need to provide citations or quotes.
• You may write your response in a first-person voice.
• You are strongly encouraged to use the Grammarly app before posting your assignment.

Watch the following video:

• Chapter 2: Federalism, Bowdoin College, 2015

https://vimeo.com/128986617