The better part of federalism

I'm fascinated by federalism schemes and blueprints to divide power in ways that (1) respect local decision-making, (2) lodge power to address problems impacting the whole at the federal level, and (3) protect freedom and power distribution through systemic checks and balances. These concerns have been at the root of this blog's call for repealing of the Seventeenth Amendment. This is an important topic, not only for the cause of freedom in the United States and within the American constitutional order, but also so humans can learn how to scale politically. While I am an American patriot and love our constitutional system of government, I am also a human who shares this one earth we humans have with 7 billion other people. To survive, I believe we will need to form some kind of loose world government that respects the diversity and freedom of various nations while enabling humanity to solve problems that loom on a global scale and threaten the species (climate change and nuclear proliferation, to name two obvious ones).

 The consistent challenge with all federalism structures is the irresistible gathering of power at the federal (top) level, forcing one-size-fits-all solutions on localities that are very different from one another in geography, history, culture and customs. While this consolidation of power plagues the Federal Republic of Germany as well, Germany's implementation of federalism is unique. (At least I am not aware of any other federal state or treaty organization that has replicated it.) According to The Constitution of Germany, legislative power is concentrated in the federal Parliament, but federal law is largely enforced through the German states (the Länder). This "executive federalism" would in theory ensure that the enforcement of laws is balanced with the local needs of the states and the people, respecting local sovereignty and freedoms. While the states have apparently been divested of most legislative power (for example, taxes for the states are completely set at the federal level), the states have direct involvement in the German federal law-making process through the Federal Council (Bundesrat). State representation in the Federal Council is composed of state government delegations, often led by the state's prime minister. (For German readers who disagree with this assessment, I would love to hear your perspective in the comments.)

While I would not replicate the consolidation of all legislative power into the U.S. Congress, I think the German model has some lessons for the United States. Even if the U.S. did not amend its Constitution to change the composition of the Senate, devolving enforcement of U.S. federal laws through the state governments rather than independent federal agencies could provide a missing check on federal overreach. Through executive federalism, there is a good chance that the U.S. could gain the benefits of a common federal framework to problems of an interstate nature while avoiding the oppression of one-size-fits-all solutions. This would also trim the federal bureaucracy, which is extremely bloated (there is no way the United State government needs over 2.8 MILLION civilian workers), unresponsive (who can possible respond to 80,260 pages in the Federal Register), and has of late assumed delusions of grandeur that it is authorized to make laws.