Why is federalism important?

Question

Why is federalism important?

Answer 1

"To provide for the common defense"  

Answer 2

Because decentralization is a good thing.  Too much power concentrated in the hands of a central government leads to despotism.  Also, people in different parts of the country have different needs and different values, so it makes sense that they should be able to adopt their own policies.  Moreover, allowing each state to develop its own policies encourages experimentation.  As each state develops its own solutions to problems, the country gets the opportunity to see which policies work well and which ones don't.  Finally, state governments are closer to their people than the national government in Washington, so leaving issues for the states to decide is more democratic than leaving everything for the central government to decide.  

B/c of the mass media culture, Americans today are allowing federalism to erode, and this is very frightening.  Under our system of government, we are citizens of both our respective states and the of the federal government.  That means that we have two sovereigns defining and protecting our rights.  If one becomes too despotic, the other can step in and protect our liberties.  When the federal government becomes too strong, we lose this check.  The check on state power is the 14th Amendment Due Process and Equal Protection clauses.  The check on federal power is supposed to be the 10th Amendment guarantee that states retain all of the inherent powers of sovereign states except those specifically ceded to the central government in the Constitution.  By letting the federal government usurp power from the states, we are heading down a dangerous road, because unlike the states, there is no "double check" on the decisions of the highest federal court.  

Answer 3

Federalism allows people living in different states with different needs and different interests to set policies suited to the people in their state, yet still come together with other states as one nation.

For example, the people of Wyoming might have a very different view on water usage than the people of Washington state.  A federal limit on water usage that would be appropriate for Wyoming would be a joke in Washington, and might keep them from utilizing their abundant water resources effectively.

Just as states have different physical resources, their populations have different interests and needs. If I try to force people in Massachusetts to adopt the divorce or child custody laws from Texas, they would quite reasonably protest that they should be allowed to govern themselves.

There are limits on what states can do- they cannot pass laws that violate rights guaranteed in the US Constitution, so Connecticut cannot pass a law prohibiting the Unitarian faith (although in colonial times it was considered an menace to the commonwealth). Also, all states have to accept US currency, have free trade with other states, etc.

Federalism allows the US to be a nation that is simultaneously diverse and unified.