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Chapter 7 · Federalism — Which Government Owns Your Problem
Page 1 of 2 in this chapter
From the page before
Which article of the Constitution establishes Congress?
The answer: Article I
Why: Article I comes first. The order shows where the framers expected the weight to sit.
What established judicial review?
The answer: Marbury v. Madison (1803)
Why: Judicial review is not spelled out in the text. Marbury established it.
Who writes most of the binding federal rules that affect daily life?
The answer: Federal agencies, under delegated authority through notice-and-comment rulemaking
Why: Most civics classes leave this out. It explains a great deal about how our government really works.
The most useful skill in this course
Most people angry at "the government" are angry at the wrong level of it. So they complain to an office that has no power to help. Nothing happens. They decide nothing ever does.
Knowing who owns your problem is the fix.
Roughly who owns what
Federal. Immigration. Money and currency. The military. Trade between states. Federal taxes. National parks. Social Security and Medicare. Foreign policy.
State. Most criminal law. Family law. Licenses for jobs and trades. Insurance rules. State highways. Most school standards. State taxes.
Local, meaning your city or county. Police. Fire. Zoning and permits. Most street repair. Water and sewer. Libraries. Parks. Property tax. School boards.
The shared ones, where people get lost
Schools. A local board runs them. The state sets standards and much of the money. Federal money comes with strings on it.
Roads. The interstate is federal money, built and kept up by the state. The pothole on your street is almost always the city's.
Elections. States and counties run them, inside some federal limits. There is no single national election office. That surprises people.
Water. Federal standards. State enforcement. Local pipes. When water goes bad, all three are usually part of it, which is why nobody can be pinned down.
Two rules that set the line
Article VI is the Supremacy Clause. Where federal and state law truly clash, and the matter is one the federal government may act on, federal law wins.
Before you turn the page
A pothole on your residential street is usually whose responsibility?
Who administers elections in the United States?
Trying to recall a thing before you read it again is what makes it stick. That is why the question is here.
Nothing is scored. Nothing is saved. No one sees your answer, and there is no account to make.