American Federalism Final
From Warriors to Guardians: Recommitting American Police Culture to Democratic Ideals by Sue Rahr and Stephen K. Rice
- American policing has slowly drifted away from a humanistic ideal of guardians, and toward a culture and mindset more like warriors at war with the people we are sworn to protect and serve. -many have forgotten that protecting constitutional rights is the mission of police in a democracy -People tell good cops what is going on in their neighborhoods and work with them to keep it safe. The guardian operates as part of the community. The behavior of the warrior cop, on the other hand, leads to the perception of an occupying force, detached and separated from the community. -police officers are not being trained to be more independent, critically thinking leaders because it is not consistent with the culture that exists in many American police agencies. The hierarchical, top-down control model remains the predominant structure both in the station and on the street. -Policing needs to be accountable to law and morality, so supervisors double-down on discipline so as to minimize mistakes. Officers do not trust the community, and senior officers don't trust their officers -officers aren't trained in communication skills, but are taught physical combat skills and to fear civilians. Physical control was emphasized over de-escalation. Conquering was emphasized over serving. -basically, positive reinforcement training vs. negative reinforcement improves the quality of officers once they're on the street
Death and Life of Great American Cities Ch 2, 3, 11 by Jane Jacobs
-Streets and sidewalks have other purposes than use by vehicles and people. They functions as borders between buildings. Streets and sidewalks are the most important part of a city. A city is considered dangerous when its population does not feel safe on its streets or sidewalks. -City sidewalks also serve a social function. They are places where people can meet and socialize. They are a place for public contact -Trust is a necessary element if the streets are to be successful in their social function. -High population densities in residential areas do not necessarily lead to slums, and can in fact be a positive factor in creating a good city neighborhood -A high population density is not the same thing as overcrowding. Overcrowding can occur in high-density areas or in low-density areas. Densities should be at a level that promotes diversity.
The Trouble with Public Sector Unions by Daniel Di Salvo
-Chris Christie on his first day as governor introduced changes to unionized public workers to treat them like those working in the private sector -The cost of public-sector pay and benefits (which in many cases far exceed what comparable workers earn in the private sector), combined with hundreds of billions of dollars in unfunded pension liabilities for retired government workers, are weighing down state and city budgets -yet public unions are among the hardest groups to fight, as they often have the strongest unions in size, finances, and political clout -dramatic decline in overall union membership in the past 20 years -however, as private-sector unions have shrunk, public-sector unions have grown -union members are also much more educated, and there is near-equal gender balance. they are multi-racial and suburban. -increased benefits from government jobs, while private sector jobs have become more competitive, resulting in a shrinking middle class -three factors led to the growth of public unions: the weakening of party machines at the state and local level; economic and demographic change caused by the baby boom; the solidified alliance between organized labor and the Democratic Party -public unions have advantages over private unions, such as their relative freedom from market forces, being able to exert their power as public workers to cause political change in the government, and retain a privileged position in relation to other interest groups (lobbyists) -the monopoly status of certain jobs without private counterparts, such as policemen and firemen, has given the union representatives of these workers enormous leverage -increasing government pensions was good politics, but hurt the states in the long run
"Broken Windows: The police and neighborhood safety," by George Kelling and James Q. Wilson
-In the mid-1970s The State of New Jersey announced a "Safe and Clean Neighborhoods Program," designed to improve the quality of community life in twenty-eight cities by taking police officers out of their patrol cars and assigning them to walking foot patrols -foot patrol had not reduced crime rates, but it did make community members feel safer and believe that crime had, in fact, gone down. Moreover, citizens in the foot-patrol areas had a more favorable opinion of the police; officers walking beats had higher morale, greater job satisfaction, and a more favorable attitude toward citizens in their neighborhoods than did officers assigned to patrol cars. -the result was more humanity garnered between cops and their community -while they didn't necessarily dissuade fears of serious crimes, it did help ease the fear of being bothered by disorderly people (panhandlers, drunks, addicts, rowdy teenagers, prostitutes, loiterers, the mentally disturbed) -foot patrol elevated order in these neighborhoods -officers patrolled the streets, and came to learn who the "regulars" were; cops then paid attention to "strangers" and regulars who were commonly disorderly, and made sure that they followed the informal rules of order within the neighborhood, to make life better for the regulars. these rules were made in collaboration with the regulars, and were not necessarily legally binding -at the community level, disorder and crime are usually inextricably linked, in a kind of developmental sequence. ex. if a window in a building is broken and is left unrepaired, all the rest of the windows will soon be broken; one unrepaired broken window is a signal that no one cares, and so breaking more windows costs nothing. -more broken windows leads to more disorder and more crime, because it's implied that no one cares about acts of vandalism -residents that think crime is on the rise will use the streets less, which makes them less safe, increasing crime even more; cops patrolling the streets helps defeat the first thought, before it escalates into full-scale neighborhood lockdown -In a car, an officer is more likely to deal with street people by rolling down the window and looking at them. The door and the window exclude the approaching citizen; they are a barrier. -The essence of the police role in maintaining order is to reinforce the informal control mechanisms of the community itself. The police cannot, without committing extraordinary resources, provide a substitute for that informal control.
The Metropolitan Revolution: How Cities and Metros Are Fixing Our Broken Politics and Fragile Economy by Bruce Katz and Jennifer Bradley
-Katz and Bradley illuminate, for a practice-oriented audience, a number of recent paradigmatic changes in the economics and politics of cities and regions: innovation districts, -entrepreneurial ecosystems, interjurisdictional collaboratives, anchor strategies, networked globalism, and do-it-yourself (DIY) urbanism, to name but a few. -the focus is not on metropolitan areas, but on smaller enclaves that cluster and connect institutions and firms with small businesses, housing, and employees -the future of cities is districts with multiple aspects to them -the overall point is that place-based economic innovators must be adaptable, market-driven, open to teamwork, and above all metropolitan in their outlook -Portland has perfected green sustainability and is exporting to other cities for money -Houston: modern housing solutions are helping immigrants climb the economic ladder -Miami: innovators are forging foreign connections, strengthening the business ties within the cities to thinkers in other countries -Denver and Los Angeles: Leaders are breaking political barriers and building world-class metropolises -Boston and Detroit: Innovation districts are hatching ideas to power these economies for the next century
Medicaid Moving Forward: Issue Brief
-Medicaid is the nation's main public health insurance program for people with low income and the single largest source of public health coverage in the U.S., covering nearly 70 million Americans. It is also the main source of coverage and financing for both nursing home and community-based long-term care. -Medicaid finances 16% of total personal health spending in the U.S - the ACA expanded Medicaid eligibility to nearly all non-elderly adults with income at or below 138% of the federal poverty level -the ACA also made states make it easier to enroll for Medicaid -elderly and disabled people make up 1/4 of all enrolled in Medicaid, but account for more than half of annual expenditures -physician participation is more limited in Medicaid than in Medicare or private insurance, due to low payment rates in Medicaid - ACA made a number of major investments to expand access to care in Medicaid as enrollment in the program grows
Regionalism and Realism: A Study of Government in the New York Metropolitan Area Ch 6 by Benjamin, Gerald, Nathan, Richard
-Republicans created the Port Authority, which has authority in both New York and New Jersey -the Port Authority threatened local control over the waterfront, which is why many people opposed it -the Port Authority was designed to create more channels for transportation and commerce between NYC and New Jersey -railroads resisted cooperating with the Port Authority because they saw it as competition -the Port Authority's successes— making long-distance automobile travel from the metropolitan center easier— generated growth beyond the limits of its own jurisdiction. This shifted its focus away from its original intent and made it less regional than it had wanted to be. -NJ once fought against the Port Authority, but in recent years they support it
Medicaid Expansion during the Trump Presidency: The Role of Executive Waivers, State Ballot Measures, and Attorney General Lawsuits in Shaping Intergovernmental Relations by Lilliard Richardson
-Trump administration officials relied on executive actions to chip away at various elements of the ACA and encouraged and granted state requests for waivers allowing work-requirements and other personal-responsibility rules for Medicaid beneficiaries -The battle over Medicaid has shifted to the states, with citizens and interest groups having a major impact by approving several ballot measures that expanded Medicaid in states where expansion was opposed by elected officials. -Limited congressional success in repealing and replacing the ACA in 2017 and 2018 led the Trump Administration to rely more heavily on executive federalism and take a number of actions that chipped away at elements of the ACA
Federal Grants to States and Local government by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO)
-federal grants to state programs have increased over the past 30 years, especially to Medicaid and social programs like education -grants tend to supplement state spending rather than supplant them -most of the growth in federal grants to state and local governments since the early 1980s has been for programs that benefit individuals -in 2011, federal grant money: half was spent on health, the other half spent on other programs -grants provided to state and local governments for purposes other than health have grown at a slower rate -federal financial support to state and local governments also takes the form of tax credits or deductions that make it less expensive for state and local governments to borrow money or to raise taxes
Federalism and the Constitution: Competition vs Cartels by Michael Greve
-federal reform and accompanying grants are failing, from education to healthcare and insurance -what we have now is cartel federalism, which squashes competition between the states and makes states dependent on the federal government -what needs to be restored is competitive federalism, which encourages states to compete with each other in order to enhance freedom and economic growth
"Walking the walk: in creating walkable neighborhoods, a little audacity goes a long way," by Alan Ehrenhalt
-healthy communities are built on the face-to-face contact of their residents -the most successful urban neighborhoods were built on "weak ties," or informal contacts among casual acquaintances who stop on the street to chat -this requires sidewalks to be places where people feel comfortable spending time -- gathering spots, not just thoroughfares -geography helps a city be more walkable than others; smaller cities where virtually everything is within walking distance of one's house tend to be more walkable -cities with more citizens walking in them tends to make people more proud of their city -more eyes on the street, such as food vendors, make a street safer and therefore more walkable, because they create a "benign vigilant presence" -mixing commercial and residential zones also helps with walkability, as it encourages sidewalk vitality -history and geograhy matter the most in creating a walkable city, and the physical layout of a city is most important. however, the culture of the residents that live there also helps or hinders this
Gentrification by Alan Ehrenhalt
-mayors of cities want the beauty, vibrancy, and economic success of gentrification without the displacement of its current poor residents -Vibrant downtowns and safe, placid neighborhoods are the much-admired product of urban social change in the 21st century. Gentrification is the concept onto which all the negative consequences of this change have been loaded -gentrification occurs when working class quarters have been invaded by the middle class until all or most of the working class occupiers are displaced and the whole social character of the district is changed. -many instances of gentrification in America occurred in urban areas with little to no residents prior to the influx of middle-class -cities aren't gentrifying because of any master plan, but because a significant percentage of American adults -- especially young people with money to spend -- want to live there. -it doesn't take huge numbers to produce profound effects
"On the Mutability of American Laws" by Martha Derthick
-modern federalism is deeply intertwined with state and local decision-making, which is not the federalism originally desired by James Madison and others - the grant-in-aid regimes that since the late nineteenth century have been the principal instrument of intergovernmental relations in the United States -a major flaw of modern American policymaking is overactive lawmaking -states use waivers to federal laws to adjust federal laws and requirements to the unique flavor of each state, and what the residents of those states desire -No Child Left Behind (Bush) and Obamacare (Obama) are both reflective of the federal government attempting to reform major national programs through the use of grant-in-aid laws -the NCLB requirement for universal proficiency was deficient in its conception, and resulted in even well-performing schools getting bad "scores" because they weren't improving scores well enough -the offer of money is usually an effective tool, but in the case of NCLB, it led to corruption so that teachers and schools wouldn't suffer from bad test scores -Obama's reforms encountered a different resistance in the form of federal judiciary courts -Obama tried to bring Medicaid to more low-income adults, but many state governments sued the federal government for overstepping its boundaries -agencies created to oversee these new, sweeping laws are given less and less guidance from the lawmakers that wrote the bills, and so are often not efficient in their execution of the law -American political development since the Civil War has steadily reinforced the legal and financial supremacy of the federal government.
Government Matters by Lawrence Mead
-outlines Wisconsin's healthcare reform that took place in the late 20th century -Healthcare reform was especially successful in Wisconsin, because the state government worked across party lines in order to make reforms happen -Wisconsin implemented a 4-tier system that limited the benefits that would be given out to poor individuals, giving them enough to get back up on their feet, but no make them dependent on the welfare and be resistant to helping themselves -Because the state government worked cooperatively, both liberal social reforms and conservative economic reforms were implemented -Mead argues that Wisconsin is an example for other states to follow, not just in its effective policy-making strategies or its bipartisan leadership, but also in the fact that the government was serious in its efforts to create real change. Good government yields good results, and that is the lesson Mead argues other states should take away from Wisconsin, and not just copy the policy.
Dilemmas of Scale in American Federalism: "City Life and Citizenship" by James Q. Wilson
-people regard cities as the foundation of the democratic political system -however, constitutionally, cities do not exist; they are never mentioned by name in the Constitution, and are provided no Constitutional legal rights -modern (read: American) conceptions of human nature are intrinsically individualistic, and this informs how democracies function -crime and disorder are like infections in a city, and make the city/neighborhood appear weaker -localism encourages bourgeois civility, so cosmopolitans view it skeptically -localists are territorial, and view the shifting government funding away from townships and toward cities with distrust; they view their small homes as things to be defended -the American regime is based on rights, which is fundamentally individualistic
Suburban Nation: "The Physical Creation of Society" by Andres Duany
-society seems to be evolving in an unhealthy way. Americans are becoming more polarized and more isolated, only interacting with the world through screens -community cannot form in the absence of communal space, without places for people to get together to talk. civic life requires spaces for people to meet as equals -As a motorist, you cannot get to know your neighbor, because the prevailing relationship is competitive. You are competing for asphalt -pedestrian life cannot exist in the absence of worthwhile destinations that are easily accessible on foot, and modern suburbs fail to understand this -street space must not only be safe but also feel safe; the street space must be comfortable; and the street space must be interesting -wider streets to allow for faster traffic flow results in faster cars, which results in more pedestrian deaths; this makes people less likely to walk along these routes -fire engines force streets to be wider, which creates more accidents, which endanger life far more than fires do -parked cars create an effective barrier between pedestrians and cars -Conventional suburbia fails to provide adequate street supervision, so many people hide their houses away behind walls, which only furthers the suspicion and paranoia
Change and Continuity in the Role of State Attorneys General in the Obama and Trump Administrations by Paul Nolette and Colin Provost
-state attorneys general (AG) have become influential policy makers, a trend starting in the Obama Administration and strengthening under Trump -this is reflective of growing trends of partisanation, as coalitions of AG have blocked certain executive orders made by Trump from becoming effective (ex: travel bans) -Their expanding policymaking role fits broader patterns of polarized politics, as partisan coalitions of AGs are increasingly willing to sue the federal government
How the Common Core Went Wrong by Frederick M. Hess
-the Common Core is a checklist for what K-12 students should know in English Language Arts and math. -Tea Party conservatives and militant, anti-testing union activists have forged an unlikely alliance to oppose the Common Core -The trouble with the Common Core is that it was the work of well-meaning, self-impressed technocrats who fudged difficult questions, used federal coercion to compel rapid national adoption, and assumed that things would work out. -in 2009 the Obama administration created a $4.35 billion "Race to the Top" program in which states could compete for federal funding by promising to fulfill certain requirements, and the surest way to meet that requirement was to adopt the Common Core -No one quite understood what Common Core was or what its impact would be, allowing it to be all things to all people -The ease of the Common Core's early success was at once astonishing and unsurprising. It was astonishing because previous efforts to promote national educational standards had ended terribly, but unsurprising because the standards were simply a list of recommendations for what K-12 students should learn in reading and math. -The real power of standards lies in their ability to change what is tested, and thus to change how curricula and textbooks are written, how teachers teach, and how students learn -common standards and tests have a lot to recommend them. They can make it much easier to compare the performance of schools, students, and educators -the hurried campaign to make the Common Core a quasi-national enterprise has undermined the venture's promise in profound and debilitating ways -Common Core is neither necessary nor sufficient for fixing the problem it was designed to solve -many Common Core states just aren't that into the Common Core, meaning that implementation was halfhearted, so results can't be properly gauged -increased standards has made teachers anxious about job security, as they feel like they are the ones being targeted by the reforms -the Common Core has driven a wedge between education-reform allies. -it looks like the Common Core is a back-door way for the federal government to exert tremendous influence over education through the use of stick-and-carrot grants
US v Lopez
-the Gun Free School Zones Act passed in 1990 prohibited people from knowingly carrying firearms near school zones -the Supreme court found that the Act was unconstitutional, as it exceeded the authority of Congress to regulate commerce between the states
The Every Student Succeeds Act, the Decline of the Federal Role in Education Policy, and the Curbing of Executive Authority by Andrew Saultz, et. al.
-the failure of policies during the Obama Administration shifted political attitudes on key issues and within key constituencies that had previously supported a stronger federal role -The Every Student Succeeds Act of 2015 (ESSA) curtailed the federal role in education policy and curbing federal executive authority. -the ESSA replaced the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB), a law that significantly expanded the role of the federal government in education policy -The ESSA's curbing of executive authority diverges from the recent pattern of extensive use of waivers in education and healthcare policy -the design and passage of ESSA was influenced by reactions of key constituency groups to the implementation of NCLB and particularly the waivers granted by the Obama administration. Conservative and liberal groups, as well as teachers unions and state and local officials, all came to question the use of waivers. The strength and bipartisan nature of this opposition created a policy window in the final years of the Obama administration that enabled leaders in both houses of Congress to pass ESSA and limit the federal role in education policy and executive waiver power in particular.
Federal Grants in Aid, A Historic Perspective by the Congressional Research Service
-the federal government is expected to provide state and local governments about $750 billion in federal grants in FY2019; federal grants account for about one-third of total state government funding -congressional decisions in the federal grants system are influenced by both internal and external factors -internal factors include: congressional party leadership; committees; individual members; and the customs that govern congressional behavior -major external factors include: input from voter constituencies; organized interest groups; the President, and executive branch officials; and the Supreme Court in some cases -over time, even though the American public is skeptical of government actions, it has also become more accepting of government activism in domestic affairs generally, and of federal government intervention in particular - the federal intergovernmental system of governance has been characterized by many scholars as becoming increasingly centralized and coercive, with the federal government using federal grants, federal mandates, and federal authority to expand its influence in many policy areas previously viewed as being the responsibility of state and local governments
Suburban Nation: "How to Make a Town" by Andres Duany
-this chapter outlines the many practical and aesthetic choices that must be considered when building a new town. It does this by looking at a number of townships and seeing what makes each town layout so successful -Building new towns is not always the answer to increasing growth, and sometimes the unnecessary construction of a town can be detrimental to the city it is draining from. City planners have to either increase the suburban sprawl, or to redesign a neighborhood to grow upward instead of outward -the geography of the region needs to be considered foremost when designing a new suburb/township -the town requires places for residents to work, a pharmacy or cornerstore for emergencies, an elementary school nearby all homes -the town should be connected by roads to the rest of the world, but only as connected as the town planners want it to be
Regionalism and Realism: A Study of Government in the New York Metropolitan Area and Ch 7 by Benjamin, Gerald, Nathan, Richard
-two trends of public transit: private companies seeking to make a profit, and "governmentalization" of transit seeking to provide a service to constituents -the financial difficulties of mass transit and its demands for government assistance long antecede competition from automobiles and the development of the national highway system. -the early NYC transit systems operated only within the city, but when they were absorbed by the MTA, it extended its reach beyond the city limits -Both Democratic and Republican legislators from New Jersey argue that transit policymaking is not partisan inside the legislature, because the state legislative districts are organized to ensure that both Democrats and Republicans represent constituencies in which NJT services are important, and tax decisions regarding the transit system falls on the executive branch
Tense Commandments Chapters 2, 4, and 6 by Pietro Nivola
-when choosing where to live and work, Americans prefer the suburbs to the cities. Many underlying causes of the urban predicament are familiar: disproportionate poverty, stiff city tax rates, and certain unsatisfactory municipal services (most notably, public schools) -sometimes the federal govenrment acts in ways that discourage people from living in cities -federal funding for large cities is less than needed, esp since large cities have to spend a lot of money to meet federal standards of living, which reduces spending money -the "politics of paternalism," the political pressures that federal regulations place on governance, reduce liberty for the city to govern itself how it wishes -the federal fight against terrorism in cities further reduces freedom and restricts the natural allocation of resources
US v Windsor
The Court held that Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), which denied federal recognition of same-sex marriages, was a violation of the Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment.
Printz v US
The Court invalidated the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act, which made state and local law enforcement officers to conduct background checks on prospective handgun purchasers and to perform certain related tasks. The Supreme Court found this to violate the Constitution.
National Federation of Independent Business v Sebelius
The Court upheld Congress' power to enact most provisions of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA), commonly called Obamacare, and the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act (HCERA), including a requirement for most Americans to have health insurance by 2014, justifying the individual mandate to buy health insurance as a constitutional exercise of Congress's taxing power.