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federalism and rights

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federalism and rights
Prapatporn Trirattanawaraporn
URPA 5309
DOES FEDERALISM SECURE OR UNDERMINE RIGHTS?
The concept of federalism is a system of government in which sovereignty is constitutionally divided between the federal government and the states (a packet of readings for URPA 5309, 2014-2015, p.1). As federalism is defined in many shapes and sizes, but basic principles of being a citizen has allegiance to more than one level of government. For example, in the United States, one is a citizen of both state and nation. “Do the states tend to promote individual liberty, or to undermine it?” The debate under a formal federalism as a constitutional system yields to specifics some of the advantages and some of the disadvantages.
One of the advantages to safeguard liberty is to use of federalism devices. The article mentions the values of federalism that one of the great challenges of constitutional democracy is how to give government sufficient power to do its job, while at the same time creating restraints on the abuse of that power. One structural device to restrain government’s power in order to protect individual liberty is the separation of powers. The constitution particularly lists the power as three branches: the legislative branches, the executive branch, and the judicial branch, each having its own independent source of authority. In such debates, another advantage as a civic participant is to have the opportunity, not only to vote for those who make the laws, but also to have voice in how decision are to be fashioned, what choices to be made. Under federalism reinforces the right of choice, democratic government is better when people can see that how they vote, and what their representative do. Another obvious advantage, when federalism compares to monopoly, individualism has its practical advantages in the economic sphere. The progresses of individual enterprise are positively encouraged under the open society. As the article explains the pluralistic society that is

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