Discussion Board

The national government is often referred to as the federal government. That leads to some issues when we discuss federalism – because federalism is not referring to the national government alone. Federalism is the relationship between the national and state/local governments. When we talk about federal programs, most of the time we are really talking about a national government policy that is administered at the state level. This is what federalism is: the national government passes a law that establishes a program and then (most of the time) provides funding to the states to carry out that program. I say most of the time, because there are different forms of federalism, as described in your textbook.

A great example of federalism that your book discusses is voting rights. There are national level laws that require the states to allow access to voting to protecting groups within our population (think about African-Americans historically being denied the right to vote in the United States). Even though states are in charge of voting, the states must abide by the national voting laws. In return for following the national voting laws, the national government will provide money to the states to help fund the cost of national elections (congressional and/or presidential). However, if the states do not abide by the national voting laws, the national government can force the states to follow the law. Sometimes, the states do not agree with parts of the national law and might try to fight against it in the court system, as explained in You Decide: Voices of Texas, Voting and Redistricting Rights (Champagne, Harpham, and Casellas 103).

Information to help you answer this question will be found in Chapter 3 of your textbook.

In your original post you must:

1. Identify a federal program that is administered at the state government and/or local government level.
2. Describe how the federal program is administered by the Texas state government or a local government.
3. Identify what type of federalism is demonstrated in the federal program you chose.
4. Explain why your chosen federal program fits the above identified type of federalism.

Post must also include:

• Works Cited at least 2 sources—MUST BE credible sources. To determine if your source is credible, you can visit: http://rasmussen.libanswers.com/faq/32400
• 250 original-content words (this means quotes do not count towards word count)
• Post must be written in paragraph format. Do NOT use numbering or bullet points. There is no need to include the original questions in your post.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Response Posts are DUE: Sunday 12/29/2019 by 11:59 pm .

In your response you must:

1. Provide an argument as to whether or not the original poster was correct in their categorization of the type of federalism their chosen federal program falls under.
   1. If they are correct: provide a different example and brief explanation of a program that falls into the same type of federalism category.
   2. If they are incorrect: provide an explanation as to why they are incorrect, along with a correct example of a federal program that falls into the type of federalism category they identified in their post.

Post must also include:

• Works Cited at least 1 source—MUST BE credible sources. To determine if your source is reliable, you can visit: http://rasmussen.libanswers.com/faq/32400
• 100 original-content words (this means quotes do not count towards word count)

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

You must provide a properly formatted MLA citation. Please visit https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/mla_style/mla_formatting_and_style_guide/mla_formatting_and_style_guide.html to learn how to do so properly. NOTE: There is an ad-based citation generator at the top of the page this link takes you to – it does not format your citations properly.

Tips From https://www.unr.edu/Documents/liberal-arts/writing-center/Creating%20a%20Successful%20Discussion%20Board%20Thread.pdf

• Strive to always bring up new, interesting comments. There is no point reiterating a remark that has already been made. You should always try to further the discussion—be provocative! Even if you have a similar opinion as the previous respondent, bring up an additional example or resource. The second poster in the above example includes many comments for the next student—or even the previous poster—to agree or disagree with.
• Good discussion threads should be substantial but concise: convey only the information that is most meaningful and accessible to your classmates. Make sure to always re-read your response! A good habit is to copy and paste your thread into a Word document prior to posing to check for errors in spelling and grammar.
• Don’t just state that you agree or disagree with the poster—make sure you offer an inventive reason why (avoid things like “You go girl, I totally agree!”) Always be professional and respectful to your classmates and avoid ad hominem attacks (criticism against the person, not his/her comments.)