Chapter 3

1.)    I most definitely support a strong national government. While the national government should not have all the power I believe that the majority of power should lie with them without a strong national government and with the states being the main government each state would only be interested in the needs or the best interest of their state and not as the country as a whole.  For example the issues of equality, war, and other issues that affect our nation as a whole and not just individual states,  should be handled by the national government and not be left for individual states to govern for their own individual standpoints on the issue.  All that would cause would be a house divided.

2.)    When the Great Depression began American citizens wanted the national government to aid and fix the economy.  National centered federalism strengthened a great deal during this time period in an attempt to save the struggling economy.  Roosevelt after his inauguration in 1933 along with the aid of congress started to pass a series of laws designed to help the economy grow.  However the Supreme Court ruled that congress did not have the power to pass these laws and Roosevelt saw his New Deal slowly falling. He then enacted the court packing plan, a proposal to add justices to the Supreme Court so that the Court would uphold his policies; however, after the proposal of this plan, the court reversed itself and started accepting the New Deal policies.  Under the administration of Ronald Reagan the shift of power began to return back to the states. I believe that it was necessary at the time of the Depression to have a strong national government because the depression was a national problem that could only be fixed with a strong national government.  After the healing took place and our economy was once again stable, the power rightly shifted back to being the federal system America had successfully operated under for centuries. 

3.)    I believe that education should be regulated and monitored by the national government and not state governments.  I believe this because if we allow state and local governments to regulate or set the standard for education there might be a higher standard set in another state making the children of that state better educated than the state with lower education standards. So, I believe that it is better for education standards to be set by national government so that the educational value is the same across the board and one states children does not have an advantage over another. 

Commented on:
1.)Nathan Tollett http://tollettnr.blogspot.com/
2.)Rebecca Zuchowski http://rebeccaroanestate.blogspot.com
3.)Megan Biggs http://megansgovblog.blogspot.com