Introduction
Overview of
Course
A.
Setting/Rules of Game/Context/Federalism
B.
How
Citizens Try to Influence Government:
Parties and Elections
C.
Who They
Influence: Institutions
D.
Policy
Outcomes
Why Study
State and Local Politics?
A.
Look at
Newspapers
B.
Look at WVU tuition, admissions
standards—demographics, geography matter
C.
Why are welfare payments higher in Connecticut
than Mississippi? Wealth and ideology
D.
Why does Idaho have a higher percentage of women
in the state legislature than New York?
Rules matter, and so does culture.
E.
Why does New York’s legislature make fewer
technical mistakes than West Virginia’s?
F.
Why is voter turnout higher in Maine than in
Missouri? Political culture, rules.
G.
States make a great laboratory; similar but not
the same.
Why Have
States Anyway?
Political
Culture—Elazar
A.
Individualistic—politics as marketplace
B.
Moralistic—politics to improve society
C.
Traditionalistic—politics to maintain the
existing order
Federalism
A History of
Federalism
A.
Origins
1.
Problems
with Articles of Confederation
a.
Lack of
national unity
b.
Lack of coordination
2.
Options
a.
Unitary
system
b.
Confederation
c.
Federalism
B.
10th
Amendment
C.
Federalists vs. anti-Federalists
1.
Alien and
Sedition Acts
2.
Interposition and Nullification—VA and KY
Resolutions
D.
Marbury
v. Madison
E.
Louisiana Purchase
F.
McCulloch v. Maryland
G.
Civil War
H.
13th Amendment
I.
14th Amendment
J.
15th Amendment
K.
16th Amendment
L.
Government Assumes Welfare Role
M.
Civil Rights Decisions
Fiscal
Federalism
A.
Major
source of money for states and localities
B.
Two ways of classifying different types
1.
Level of
discretion
a.
Categorical grants—least discretion, very
specific purposes
b.
Block grants—moderate discretion—general
areas—most money in these
c.
General Revenue Sharing—total state or local
discretion—good points and bad points.
Abolished in mid 1980s
2.
Method of
allocation
a.
Project—many categorical grants but not much
money—application process, class bias
b.
Formula grants—virtually all block grants, some
categorical, and (before abolition) all revenue sharing
C.
Conditions of aid allow policy control that
cannot be mandated
1.
Speed
limit enforcement
2.
Drinking age
3.
Blood Alcohol level
4.
No Child Left Behind
5.
Extortion?
Or good public policy?
The Reagan
Years
A.
Irony:
let states do more, but give them less money
B.
Some movement from categorical to block grants
C.
Elimination of Revenue sharing
D.
Reduction in overall grant money—largely
restored in Bush (Papa) administration.
E.
Consequences
1.
States
and localities do more with less
2.
Fiscal crises
3.
Governors are blamed
4.
Attempts at creativity
a.
WV higher
education
b.
Oregon health care
c.
Not likely to be enough to compensate
Some States
Do Better Than Others
A.
Huge
variation from state to state
B.
Some is obvious—AK, WY highways
C.
Small states did better in early 1980s—ganged up
on California
D.
Large states did better in mid 1980s—critical
mass
E.
Not California—homogeneity, unity important
F.
Lobbying offices
G.
Governor in Congress—knows ropes, sees potential
(governor is growing in importance)
H.
Did Byrd matter?
1.
Committee
assignments, seniority don’t figure in model
2.
We notice project grants, but money is in
formula grants
3.
Byrd didn’t do grants so much as federal
expenditures
4.
Maybe Byrd was the exception that proved the
rule
Summary of
History
A.
Shift
from state to national control
B.
Shift from layer cake (dual) to marble cake
(cooperative) federalism
Larger and
Smaller Governments
A.
Regional
Bodies
1.
Relates
to question of why states
2.
Examples:
a.
NW Power
Supply
b.
Port Authority of NY and NJ
c.
Appalachian Regional Commission
3.
Is this a
trend?
B.
Localities
1.
Dillon’s
Rule
2.
Home Rule
3.
Lots of state-to-state variation--$ is often key
4.
Most centralized states: DE, NM, WV, HI
5.
Least centralized states: CO, OR, TX, NY, NH
6.
Why? Not
sure, perhaps homogeneity
7.
WV: Caperton
tried to change through amendment, voters turned down
