October 11 (Monday): Liberalism

• READ: Robertson, Federalism and the Making of America,  Chapter 8
              Time Magazine, "The Marble-Cake Government"
  Conlan & Posner, Intergovernmental Management for the 21st Century, 26-41

Discussion Questions:

1. Describe the transformations experienced by the United States since World War II. Have these transformations made it impossible to sustain state sovereignty in the United States?

2. Describe “creative federalism”. Did creative federalism do more harm than good to American government, or more good than harm? Give both sides.

3. Should the United States federal government provide revenue sharing – that is, unrestricted grants in aid – to the states to help them finance their governments? Should the federal government equalize this revenue across the states to reduce their incentives to compete to lower taxes?

4. Conlan describes the layers of federalism that have accumulated over time. Do we need to start from scratch and enact a Constitutional amendment that spells out clearly the dividing line between the state and national governments?