Federalism Vs Communism Essay, Research Paper

Federalism vs CommunismFederalism, with its division of power and its democracy, is a better system of government thanthat of communism. Within a federal government exists a central government, which is split upinto smaller divisions in order to keep all the ruling power spread out and not concentrated in oneplace. Communism, on the other hand, attempts to completely get rid of the government andcreate a society where everyone is equal and power is split up among the masses. Both systemsshare this common idea, however when communism is put into practice, it does not succeed. It,instead, ends up turning more into another form of government. It is because of this failure incommunism to achieve a stable government that Federalism is more effective. Apply:Federalism is a form of government in which a national government and smaller subdivisions ofthis are in charge. In the United States, there is the central government accompanied by the 50state governments. The national government deals with issues that affect the entire nation. Everything else is left up to the individual state governments. These governments know their stateswell and can set up laws to better suit the people within them. It is for this reason that Federalismworks much better in a large nation. In a large nation, there are bound to be diverse needs whichcan be met by the state government. This subdivision of government also leaves the nationalgovernment to deal with much broader topics that involve the whole nation, without having toconcentrate on these individual needs. The political system that Federalism is based on democracy. A democracy is a government runby the people, in which either people themselves make the laws and enforce them as agovernmental body, called a direct democracy, or they elect representatives to express the viewsof the people, known as a representative democracy. There are two types of representativedemocracy, presidential and parliamentary. The social system of Federalism under this democracy is summed up fairly well by Carl Becker, adistinguished political historian. Becker said that the basic beliefs surrounding a democracy arewithin the creativity and individuality of the people. Because of this freedom of individuality,political parties have come about, in which people with the same political views can join togetherand support each other, two examples being the Republican and Democratic parties in the US. Aside from letting individuals speak out, democracies see all humans as equals and governmentwill only exist if these people agree that it is working well. Although democracies have not beencommon in history, the ones that did exist succeeded in governing their people well, such as theone in the United States today. The economy that works best with Federalism is capitalism. This economy began with the theoryof laissez faire, or a hands off economy. What this means is that once the economy starts rolling,the government does not rule over it. It is left alone to change and govern itself. This economy isbased on competition between the citizens of the nation, called free enterprise. People want toearn as much money as they can, but in order to do this they need to work hard to compete witheveryone else who have the same motives. Prices fluctuate based on supply and demand. Thegovernment does not set a specific price for any goods or services. A perfect form of capitalismhas never been accomplished, but the modern day United States is very close. Under Federalism, the military is not mandatory. People can join if they want to, but do not haveto, unless the country is at war and they are drafted. A military seems to grow particularly well ina Federalist society. Currently, the Federalist military of the United States is the largest in theworld. Military is also not idealized, meaning it is not the most important part of Federalism. Inthe US, the president is also the head of the military, showing that government comes before thearmy. Communism is another form of government, in which after the social system and economy areworking by themselves, the government slips away, leaving the people to be self-ruling and equal. Throughout history, many different people have come up with this idea of a utopian society, inone form or another. Plato s Republic was based upon the idea of utopia. Communism began asa direct response to early problems with capitalism. This idea was best explained in the bookCommunist Manifesto, written by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. In this book, Marx andEngels point out that every social system before their time that had class divisions also had manyclass conflicts within it. The lower class was never happy with how the upper class governedthem, and they always wanted to move up in society. It is because of this that the social structure of communism is that of total equality. Anyone thatholds an important office or rank must belong to the Communist Party. The government, before itis tossed aside, makes sure that no one is better off than anyone else. They do this throughregulating the economy, military, and their own ruling power. Communist government is a very complex form of government. It begins by taking control of all

economic and political activity. It gets everything moving along at a steady pace, making sure thatno one is gaining too much wealth or that anyone is being lost in it all. People work to the best oftheir abilities and get paid only according to what they need. Even the people who fight in themilitary are not of any higher rank than anyone else, no matter how powerful they think they are. Once all of these aspects are running smoothly, the government and the Communist Party fadeaway, leaving everything how it is, and only slightly looking after everything. This of course, isonly in theory. When put into actual practice, this concept of a utopian society has never worked. The Soviet Union called itself Communist, however the government was still more powerful thananyone and the military was a first-rate one. The only form of economy that exists under a Communist government is a Communist economy. Within this economy, everyone owns all means of manufacturing and production. No one ownstheir own private land. People do not have to pay rent or interest, nor do they profit or getwages. They work to the best of their abilities and get paid for whatever they need. Prices are setby the amounts of work that are needed to make that product. Not only has a Communistgovernment never been fully established, but neither has a Communist economy. Private propertyand free enterprise existed in the Soviet Union, even though it called itself a Communist society. China, too, has ventured more toward a capitalistic economy, and less toward Marx and Engel svision of economy. Analysis:Federalism and communism are both forms of government, however almost every aspect withinthem are different. The way that the government rules over its people is completely opposite fromone to the other. The economies of both systems are based on two totally different economicsystems. Despite these differences, some parts of the social systems and military are similar. Overall, the main difference between Federalism and communism is that they are totally differentgovernments in theory, but in practice communism ends up having some Federalistic and somefascist aspects, and losing many of its Communistic ones. The style of government that Federalism uses is a democracy. This is where the people controlthe government and have total say over it. A democracy is run for the people also. It listens towhat they want to have done. In communism, the government takes control of all happenings inthe Communists lives. They control how much money the people make, what the people needand do not need, and they control all the politics. They do not give a say to their people. Oncethey have established this, the Communist government disappears. This is exceptionally differentfrom Federalism in that Federalism has a government while communism s government leaveswhen the time is right. The way in which the governments of Federalism and communism are set up is also verydifferent. The Federalist government consists of a central government, which runs the nation as awhole, with subdivisions of this government, which run the individual states or provinces. Communism however, has a central government which rules alongside of the Communist Party. These two groups head a Communist society. Social status of Federalism and in the theory of communism are very much alike. Federalistsbelieve that all humans are equal and deserve equal rights. All people should acquire the samebenefits and everyone should have a chance to do well in life. Communists think on a similar line,only much more extreme. They believe that everyone should be 100% equal. Private property isnot needed under communism because, since everyone is equal, land is everyone s to use. People get paid according to their needs, so there are no rich or poor classes. Everyone ends upwith an equal status. This, of course, is only in theory. In actuality, communism has taken either amore fascist or a more democratic view. In the case of the Soviet Union, the people owned landand got paid wages, although they still called themselves Communists. The economic system of Federalism, capitalism, and that of communism are two oppositesystems. Capitalism is a hands off economic system, while the Communist economy iscompletely controlled by the government. Capitalism is based on competition between people. The competitiveness of merchants gives the economy something to strive by. Communism doesnot let competition exist. Everyone gets paid the same amount, therefore there is no reason to becompetitive. The capitalist economy gives incentive for people to try to hard to earn more money,while the Communist economy leaves people wondering why they should even bother lifting afinger. In order to determine pricing, capitalism uses supply and demand. Prices fluctuatedepending on availability and want, not because the government sets prices for items as they doin a Communist economy. The militaries in Federalism and communism are closely related. Neither military is idealized. Bothmilitaries can become very strong within these systems, however the Communist militaries are notlooked up to. Since everyone is equal in communism, the military is not regarded as a highergroup of people. The one major difference that sets communism apart from Federalism is the simple fact that whenactually used, communism does not work. The idea of a utopian society does not function theway it should. Federalism and all of its as