The founding father of the constitution had a big picture in mind. They created a basic set of laws known as the constitution that was intended to last. The framers wanted to make the constitution a living document that would solve problems during their time as well as in the future of the young new country.
What they created were laws that were meant to be valid in any period of time, such as the freedom of speech, the entitled process of law, the right to exercise any religion, protection of laws and lastly cruel punishment is not allowed. The Constitution sets forth governmental powers in similarly general terms: Congress may regulate “commerce… among the several states,” the president will “take care that the laws be faithfully executed,” the courts are authorized to decide “cases” and “controversies.” The rights listed are intended to be interpreted in multiple ways so that the young nation could adapt to new problems and issues that future government officials could use them.
The constitution creators new that the governemnt needed a lot of power however they knew it was finished. When it comes to the political parties the framers knew that each party would try and pass laws to benefit themselves as well as if the nation were to be in trouble that citizens would disregard the laws and other guaranteed rights. So the framers decided to make it possible to give allowance for times of crisis.
The next topic is the electoral college. The electoral college is an old policy that was created in the very beginning of this nation. While it was effective back then, nowadays it creates problems within the election process due to the much larger population.
The is policy does not do what it is originally supposed to do anymore which can occasionally lead to a controversial election. In the past, there have been three instances of this occurring. Basically what happens is the candidate may win all of the electroal college's votes but not the overall population's votes. The backlash after is the questioning of the electoral college's validity. As a nation though we have always gotten through it.
The main reason for this policy that was chosen by the people who made it was at the time it helped preserve 2 compromises over-representation. As well as the three-fifths compromise. The electoral college also protected against the votes getting fractured for the candidates running. When slavery was abolished this policy was no longer needed for the three-fifths clause and the political views between a big state and a small state. Nowadays with having only 2 main political parties the votes being split are solved. So today what we are left with is an out of date policy that does more damage than good for our election process.
In the United States today federalism is important when it comes to the structure of our government. Federalism all depends on the relationship between each state and the government. However nowadays because everything going on in Washington D.C it has come into question once again. In the coming days, months, and years the relationship between state and government will go through good and bad patches as it always had.
Throughout history, the balance has not always been good. For example, there have been times where the executive part of the government acted against the problems of the states by putting their needs in front of the states. In turn, putting states under financial stress or poltical turmoil.
When it comes to more recently over the last 5 decades the balance of power has been more equal. In turn, means that not only the federal government has been booming, but the state government as well. This healthy relationship allows for policies to flow from the upper part of the government down to the state level with little resistance. But the one hiccup was the housing market crash. This hiccup causes resistance financially from the federal government getting funds down to the state level. So important government-run programs had to be adjusted due to the federal funding being diminished.
Funding to government programs like the slowly failing social security have made each state's budget stretch in order to accommodate. However, besides some of the few struggling government-run programs, the balance has been relatively balanced in the government between the state and federal levels. In conclusion, if states are to be the laboratories of democracy, they need the freedom, power, and flexibility to innovate, create and adapt policies that best meet the needs of their citizens.
