Answer: It had a History of Protecting Slavery and Segregation – This is often cited as one of the main detriments of the system of federalism that we have in this country, that since slavery was a state issue, it was something that could not be removed on the national level.
It Allows for Inequalities Between Different States – For example, instead of education funding throughout the country being the same, since it is a state issue, some states will spend more, per capita, on education than other states, causing what could be considered a disparity. The same goes for other things, as well, such as taxes, health care programs, and welfare programs.
The Blockage of Nationalist Policies by States – States can fight against the existence of certain national laws by challenging them in court, or going out of their way to not enforce those national laws, or even deliberately obstructing enforcement of national laws.
Racing to the Bottom – One argument given is that states will compete with each other in an oppositional way, by reducing the amount of benefits they give to welfare recipients compared to, say, a neighboring state, motivating the undesirables to go to the neighboring state, thereby reducing their welfare costs even more. This reduction of state benefits to needy has been deemed the ‘race to the bottom.’
