Dillon’s Rule asserts that local governments are creatures of the state, meaning that they are created by the state and can only exercise powers granted to them by the state. With the state acting as the sovereign central government, their relationship to local governments reflects a unitary relationship. In contrast, it must be noted that the relationship is neither confederal or federal, as a union of local governments does not restrict the state government’s power and the state and local governments do not share sovereignty. On the contrary, home rule is where the state government gives power to local governments, allowing them to exercise more authority over their jurisdiction. Moreover, home rule can be described as an example of second-order …show more content…
Moreover, incorporation highlights the significance of Dillon’s Rule, as it highlights the fact that local governments are creatures created by the state. Yet, many states have given discretionary power back to municipalities, a transfer known as home rule. Like counties, municipalities offer a variety of services, such as law enforcement, sanitation, garbage and leaf collection, and parks and recreation. The city’s government budgets for these services every year, which is formulated and implemented by the city’s government. The structure of city government varies, but they can be categorized as mayor-council form, council-manager form, and city commission form. First, the mayor-council can be classified as a strong-mayor-council or a weak-mayor-council structure, depending on the mayor’s ability to exercise executive power. In a strong-mayor-council structure, the mayor often reflects a governor’s formal powers as they can also formulate the budget, hire fire department heads, and veto council decisions. On the other hand, the weak mayor-council structure consolidates legislative and executive power within the council, leaving the mayor to act as the city’s ceremonial chief without extensive executive powers. Second, the council-manager form allows the legislative body, composed of the mayor and council, to hire a city manager to oversee administrative tasks such as the provision of services, proposing the city budget, and managing department heads. Specifically, Gainesville, Georgia operates under a council-manager structure, with the mayor, elected at large, and the council, elected by their ward, acting as the legislative body. The legislative body then hires a manager to act as the city’s chief executive officer and may be fired at any point by a simple majority. Lastly, the city
The fourth chapter of City Politics by Dennis R. Judd & Todd Swanstrom covers the rise of "Reform Politics" with many local governments during the first half of the 1900s as a way to combat the entrenched political machines that took control of many large city governments in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Over the course of the chapter, Judd & Swanstrom quickly cover the history of the "reform movement" with different examples of how the reform movement affected city politics in different areas.
This helps to ensure that the residents get the services they need in a more effective way since they can make the local leaders accountable. This would be more difficult if the local leaders were handling large counties with many residents. However, in the case of Texas, it has too many branches of local government. This brings about more challenges to service delivery than benefits. One of the ways this happens is through increasing the bureaucratic processes. The addition of an extra layer of government such as through local governments only increases the hurdles the citizens have between them and service delivery. Another problem arises with regards to the ability of the many branches to handle specialized services. Some of the commonly needed services by residents include water provision, garbage collection, sewage management, flood prevention, among others (Flores et al.). These require resources that may not be available to the smaller branches of the local government. Therefore, consolidation of some of these local governments would help to improve efficiency in the service
James Bryce, writes a quite cynical view of federalism in his paper. Though pointing out Federalism is useful in providing for expanding states and protecting against oligarchy while still fostering the creativity and flexibility of local governments with in which people can practice their civic responsibilities. With each positive point, Bryce follows it with a negative point, and even compares the some
The United States of America is one of the most powerful nation-states in the world today. The framers of the American Constitution spent a great deal of time and effort into making sure this power wasn’t too centralized in one aspect of the government. They created three branches of government to help maintain a checks and balance system. In this paper I will discuss these three branches, the legislative, the executive, and the judicial, for both the state and federal level.
On Monday, April 13th, 2009, I visited the Culver City city council meeting, and found that they operate using a council-manager form of government. For a city with a population of about 38,000, this type of governmental structure is fairly common, and I was not surprised to see it in action in a community where the median household income is around $56,000 a year. Culver City is also a culturally rich community with a 60 percent Caucasian population, and a quarter of the residents are either of African American or Asian decent. The mayor, D. Scott Malsin, is one of five members on the council, and his term as mayor is on a rotating basis. Having been to a Hermosa Beach city council meeting with a similar council-manager structure, I knew what to expect.
The city’s budget crisis was not a surprise, the City Manager had forecasted the shortfall and brought it to the attention of the city council. Based on the organizational structure, the City Manager clearly had more knowledge and information about the city’s budget, which was his source of power. However, the city council actually controls the resources (money in this case) and how and where to distribute the resource. Both, the City Manager and city council possess authority and power that neither want to relinquish; as a result, the employees suffered. Smithville city leaders needed to come together at the onset of the budget crisis and work together in a direct democratic fashion. When leaders come together and synthesize facts and resources, organizational members can increase the power they exert within an organization (Morgan, 2006). The budget crisis could potentially have been avoided had city leaders made an appeal to the public, explained the situation and offered a reasonable solution to the problem. Moreover, the transparency would have relieved some tension between the City Manager, city council, and the three labor unions. Because the city was not transparent and forthcoming with union leaders, the city negotiators enter the negotiation process giving members false hope of receiving salary and benefit increases when there were none to give. In summary, given the current situation, the City Manager needed to exert his expert power on the budget issue, join alliance with the union leaders, and push the city council to change city charter to implement the sales tax, which would have potentially off-set the budget
To define the terminology of federalism to a simplistic way is the sharing of sovereignty between the national government and the local government. It is often described as the dual sovereignty of governments between the national and the local to exert power in the political system. In the US it is often been justified as one of the first to introduce federalism by the ‘founding fathers’ which were developed in order to escape from the overpowered central government. However, federalism in the United States is hitherto uncertain where the power lies in the contemporary political system. In this essay I will outline and explain how power relationship alternates between states and federal government. Moreover I will also discuss my perspective by weighing the evidence based upon resources. Based on these resources, it will aid me to evaluate the recent development in the federal-state relationship.
Our government here in Texas has three major parts that play a significant part in our decision making process. These levels have been deigned to decentralize power and make it more affective for the public's needs. The primary level is the Texas legislature. It is almost a given to say that everyone has at least heard of the legislature. Some variables that the legislature contains are the Lt. Governor, the Speaker of the house of Representatives and Committee Chairs. The Speaker acts as the presiding officer over the house and has two levels of power. These two levels are institutional powers which allow the officer to preside over the Legislative Audit Committee and Sunset Advisory Committee.
Federalism may be described as a system of government that features a separation of powers and functions between the state and national governments. This system has been used since the very founding of the United States. The constitution defines a system of dual federalism, which ensures sovereignty of the state and national governments. This is put in place in order to limit the national government’s power. However, the Great Depression of 1929 greatly weakened the nation’s economic systems. President Roosevelt made many changes in the relationship between the national and state governments, thus revolutionizing our understanding of federalism, through the New Deal. This essay seeks to explore the changes and attributes that define post-New Deal federalism.
The opposing argument serves as a perfect gateway to the topic of relationship between Federal and State government. In the United States, the Supremacy Clause serves...
Kevin B. Smith, Alan Greenblatt, and John Buntin, Governing states and localities: First Edition (Washington, D.C.: CQ Press), 2005, 95.
Thus, the capacity for tyranny is curbed no matter where it originates. Federalism supports union without destroying state identity. Issues can be debated at a state level, before they are addressed on a national scale. Local proceedings affect the position of state legislators on a national scale. Not all states or parties must be in agreement on the national level, and the conclusions reached by individual states can be compared as they relate to the nation as a whole.
Benatar compares casual view and significant view of sex. Where casual sex is without moral understanding and that sex is wrong when it does not involve love in the right situation. Plus there needs to be an understanding between the sex and love. The case of sex without attachment supports the casual view of the lack of need for love and understanding and if not significant and doesn’t require understanding then it is something a child can consent to (Brogaard, 189). While Benatar also states on some level there is no wrongness to rape and pedophilia depending on the extremeness and nature of the circumstances as well the level it is viewed upon. And that “sexual acts between an adult and a child need not physically hurt the child….and it
There are three classes of county government. The main differences are in the organization and selection of governing bodies and officers. General Law counties elect supervisors by district and Charter counties can elect at large or by district. Charter counties have more freedom drafting their charters determining the powers and duties of their officers and if they will be elected or appointed. The third class is Consolidated city and county. San Francisco is the only city-county (League of Women Voters, 1992).
Federalism is a legal concept that is centered around the concept that law is best handled as a two layered responsibility. Federalism is also built on a belief that sharing power with the local government is key to a successful governance. According to the text book, “the United States was the first nation to adopt federalism as its governing framework” (pg83). The following are a few examples of some advantages, as well as disadvantages of Federalism.