Federalism and the Lagalization of Marijuana

FEDERALISM IN THE USA
[Name]
[Department]
[Course]
[Date]

The United States in governed by an intricate composite of state and federal laws. The Constitution of the United States recognizes the supremacy of the federal government and thus federal laws can diminish the efficacy of State laws. This status can be seen to infringe on individual state authority and create autonomy within the federal government. Despite its potential interference with state laws, the federal law is vital to the progressive development of the United States. The main benefit of federalism is that it unifies the nation, strengthens the US systems by enabling pooling of resources, increases democracy, encourages pluralism and increases national political stability.
According to Madison, sustainability of liberty depended on the ability to ensure that every party retains its will. For this reason, liberty within states mandates that each state is allowed to maintain its capability to govern its people. This gives federal systems various advantages. Fist f all, it benefits the national government by removing the contentious issues relevant to a particular jurisdiction from its mandate. This increases the stability of the federal government because it can focus on larger challenges that are uniform across the nation. Also, it does not create divisions that may arise if the federal government could be seen to align itself with some states. On the other hand, states can decide on laws that are particular to a given state.

This reduces the chain of command that would have to be achieved if every single law had to be legislated by the federal government. As a result, it ensures faster implementation of policies and thus better efficiencies for the people. Apart from the faster implementation of policies, there are also more efficient resource collection systems and wealth distribution mechanisms.
The primary function is to unify and to enhance and standardize the quality of life for every American. It is thus the role of the federal government to intervene in issues of national interest such as education, health, and justice. This ensures that a citizen of the United States is accorded the same fundamental human rights and services without discrimination across the nation. As a result, the national government may intervene whenever it perceives that the fundamental rights of the citizens and their life are endangered. This may cause substantial conflict when the state and federal definitions of fundamental rights and threatening life vary. A good example of such conflicts is in the implementation of the use of cannabis for leisure.
Currently, 18 countries have legalized medicinal use of marijuana with California legalizing use for recreation; the federal law does not recognize or protect such as use. This means that an individual in California could be arrested by federal government agencies for use and trafficking of Marijuana. While this different nature of laws can be confusing to citizens, in most cases, it serves to protect the rights of individuals. For example, in most cases, federal systems concentrate fighting large scale possession and trafficking of marijuana. This way, the federal government helps in discouraging commercialization of marijuana which often causes dehumanization of people in the process of production, distribution and end use of the product. In addition, it helps to break up cartels that participate in many criminal activities.
These processes are made possible by the fact that national government is able to consolidate resources and thus conduct large-scale operations with greater efficacy. Even in the case of marijuana use, federalism helps adjudicate in cases where trans-border conflicts exist. It also helps coordinate activities which spun across borders. Without federal laws, criminals would use different states as safe havens given the proximity of states whose local laws are contrary to each other. The pooling resources help in bigger missions such as the organization of security systems. Since the federal government is entrusted with laws of national importance, it can make faster deliberations on issues of national security and act fast.
Federalism protects everyone. For this reason, it is given primary importance whenever it clashes with state laws. There are various instances where the United States’ judiciary had definitively concluded that the state laws were secondary to that of the federal law. In McCulloch v. Maryland (1819), the people court decided that federal government had the ability to form a bank which the state of Mary land could not tax. This landmark ruling became a basis of many more rulings in which radical states were pruned, and federalism flourished. In creating standardize institutionalization in which federal systems could not be interfered with by state government, the constitution ensured sustenance of free trade and equal opportunity in all the states. Without this, the independent states could degenerate into cold wars by imposing taxes on the organization from other states and probably introducing boarder levies against people from other states. This way, federalism increases unity among the states. In Gibbons v. Ogden, 22 U.S. 1 (1824) the judiciary insisted on the fact that Congress has the permission to regulate navigation just as it was responsible for regulating interstate commerce.
Retaining the system of federation, however, encourages pluralism. With the different levels of leadership, political systems are devolved to the people. This encourages individuals to participate in governance procedures. It also makes it possible for people to evaluate the performance of the government. This ensures continuous commitment of leaders to their policies. As Madison observed, federalism allows for a mutual interdependence between the government and the people. In such a system, there is self-regulation that allows progressive development.
Federalism allows for a particular level of diversity in managing the national government. This diversity is essential in governance because it means that there are diverse ways of looking at challenges as well as diverse solutions. This gives the US a particular impetus to progressive developments. This diversity helps even in the development of individual stated. Through a common front, states can benchmark and amongst the neighbors and come up with better ways of solving various local challenges. Through the influence of states on another, progressive laws such as accommodation so same-sex relationships have spread across the US. In this way, federalism contributes to ensuring same standard and quality of life. This if done through the provision of employment, creation of better infrastructure, health services and institution of uniform academic establishments in every state.
However, this does not mean that there are no constraints that accompany federalism. Some of the disadvantages include the risk of regionalization instead of nationalism. If states feel that they offer more to the federal system; they are more likely to desire autonomy. This can lead to segregation of poorer states such as those in the Appalachia region. However, even in such a case, the federal government often comes to the rescue. In the same example of the Appalachian countries, there have been vast federal government attempts to stimulate the development of these areas and increase quality if life.
Another disadvantage of federalism may be the lack of accountability. When there are two systems of government why are running the same institutions, accountability can be a big problem. This can also cause collision over collection and distribution of resources. As a result, federalism can create loopholes for corruption and laxity in administration.
Despite all these challenges, federalism has more advantages that disadvantages. The system of federations can be accredited majority of the progressive developments that the US enjoys. The main benefits of federalism have been the unification of the nation and strengthening of its structural and financial systems. It has also contributed to the stability and security in the US because the combined efforts of the states produced undoubtedly stronger defense mechanisms. Federalism insists on the supremacy of the federal government while maintaining the freedom of the states to govern residents of these states. As a result, states are free to implement laws that may at time contradict the federal laws. To protect the interests of every citizen of the US regardless of wherever they are, the federal laws are always supreme to the state laws. It would be a magnanimous challenge to administrate the entire USA from a central point without the state governments. It would also be economically disadvantageous to have autonomous governments in every state. Federalism thus presents the right mixture of centralization and decentralization to ensure continuous and progressive development.

Bibliography
“FEDERALIST NO. 51 (1788)”. Billofrightsinstitute.Org. Last modified 2016. Accessed November 29, 2016. http://billofrightsinstitute.org/founding-documents/primary-source-documents/the-federalist-papers/federalist-papers-no-51/.
Stahl, Jonathan. “Gibbons V. Ogden: Defining Congress’ Power Under The Commerce Clause”. Constitution Daily. Last modified 2016. Accessed November 29, 2016. http://blog.constitutioncenter.org/2016/03/gibbons-v-ogden-defining-congress-power-under-the-commerce-clause/.
“The Supreme Court. The First Hundred Years. Landmark Cases. Mcculloch V. Maryland (1819) | PBS”. Pbs.Org. Last modified 2016. Accessed November 29, 2016. http://www.pbs.org/wnet/supremecourt/antebellum/landmark_mcculloch.html.