It republican form of government, and protection
It can be said that the US is no longer a federal system. This is because although it’s stated in the Constitution, the states still don’t have enough freedom and powers of their own. An example of this is that income tax is levied by both the federal government and some state governments when it should be levied by only the state governments and then a proportion be given to the central government.Also, Federalism in the US has declined due to the fact that when crises occur such as war or terrorist attacks (9/11), the central government takes more power for itself.
The problems that have caused the crises tend to be too big for individual states to solve on their own so the central government takes more power in order to solve these problems.However, it can also be said that the US is definitely still a federal system. The federal system in the US is guaranteed by the codified Constitution, which defines the powers that belong to the central government and those that belong to the states. For example, the Constitution grants the states the right to equal representation in the Senate, jurisdictional integrity, the right to a republican form of government, and protection from invasion and domestic conflict, while granting the central government the power to “levy and collect taxes, to pay debts, and to provide for the common defence and general welfare”. The fundamental principle of a multi-level government where power is jointly exercised remains enshrined in law through the Constitution.
The relations between national and state governments are regulated under this legal framework, which cannot be altered except through the complicated process of constitutional amendment. That is one of the reasons why federalism is still very much alive in the US today. The tenth amendment states that “the powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people” which means that any power not explicitly stated in the Constitution is given to the states, not the central government.Another reason why it can be said that the US is still a federal system is that the states still have so much power. Three-quarters of the states still need to approve an amendment for it to be ratified which is a massive power as they have a pretty big say in how their country is going to be governed. The Senate and the House of Representatives which make up Congress give all their power to the states as the Senate is made up of 2 representatives from each state and the House of Representatives is made up of at least one person from each state, depending on the population of that state.
There is also a certain barrier on how much power the states should really get. After all, they are still part of a larger nation and so if they were to receive even more powers than they already have, they would start to become more like lots of little separate nations. All of the powers that are necessary for the central government to have (such as the powers to declare war or make treaties), are given by the Constitution and that’s how it should stay.In conclusion, I think that although federalism in the US has definitely declined over the years, it is still very much a big part of the country as the states still have a lot of powers given to themselves, which means that the central government doesn’t have control over them and they still have a pretty big say in how their country is run due to three-quarters of the state legislatures still needing to approve amendments to the Constitution.
