The United States government system is known as federalism. “Under the Tenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, all powers not granted to the federal government are reserved for the states and the people. All state governments are modeled after the federal government and consist of three branches: executive, legislative, and judicial.”(1) In a federal system, communication of powers flow both ways, from central government to state government. The distribution of the power contains that the national government is in charge of coin money, declare war, conduct foreign relations, and oversee foreign and interstate trade. While the state government is able to ratify amendments, manage public health and safety, oversee trade within the state, and …show more content…
The United States Constitution is constructed to limit the power of the national government. The state Constitution is structured to look like the federal Constitution in that they include the legislative, executive and judicial branches. Although the state Constitution is resembled in the federal Constitution, the state constitution is much longer and descriptive than of the federal Constitution. The federal Constitution grants power while the state government limits authority (the book). The state Constitution is unique for each state, California’s laws and treaties are proposed for the people living in California. Plans arranged for the California differ than what changes need to be done in other states. The federal Constitution is based off the original document which can not be changed, while state Constitutions can be replaced. “For example, California has adopted specific Constitutional protections against certain forms of taxation. In 1978 the people of California adopted Proposition 13, which capped the maximum amount of an ad valorem tax on private property. The measure was intended to prevent the state and local governments from increasing property taxes, absent approval by a strong majority of impacted property owners …show more content…
Many things differ when it comes to elections. The federal government does not allow ballot initiatives, referendums, or recall elections. Political parties are weak in the state government; however, the parties aren’t much stronger in the federal government either. Some According to the textbook, Californians favor direct democracy. They believe that most political officials can not resolve issues which is why direct democracy is essential for California citizens in order to control government issues. initiatives that have been presented on the ballot before is tribal gambling, redistricting, tax measures, and death penalty (book). A reason why federal government doesn’t allow ballot initiatives is that it takes away from states power. One of the division of powers is lawmaking within states. Each state has its own sovereignty when it comes to what should be on the