I take it as a basic maxim of federalism that problems
infecting the entire federal geography uniformly are best tackled by the
federal government, with the involvement of the polities (governments) within
the federation being in sync with the federal mandates. Problems that plague
some polities while barely leaving a scratch on other polities within the
federation are best solved by the individual polities because their situations
differ appreciably. The federal government’s role would be more about coordination
than setting one size that fits all. Federalism is especially beneficial at the empire-scale, which the U.S.S.R., Russia, India, China, the United States andthe European Union have, because the large geographical size tends to be
diverse, or heterogeneous, within, whereas the smaller republics, provinces, or
states within tend not to be so large as to have such striking differences.
Hence, the cultural differences between Bavaria and Bremen are dwarfed by the
differences between Germany and Greece, and the differences between Northern
and Southern Illinois are dwarfed by the differences between Illinois and
Texas. So it is only natural, I submit, that U.S. and E.U. state governments
took the lead in combating the coronavirus pandemic because it was a much more
serious problem in some states than others.[1]
The full essay is at "Post-Pandemic Plans in the U.S.: Federalism."
1. I don’t
feel the need to look smart by using the particular scientific name, covid-19,
especially when coronavirus is sufficient for readers to understand which virus
to which I am referring. As this is not a scientific writing, but is instead a
piece oriented to the general educated reader, using a scientific term not only
does not fit the genre, but also is less widely known and thus understood.
