Since the founding of the first colonies, Americans have argued about the distribution of powers between the federal and local authorities. From time to time, the issue is considered by various state commissions and scientific organizations. However, as a result, they come up with the same conclusions, in particular, that there is no clear division of powers criteria between the Congress and the states.This discussion examines the issue of whether some powers of the Congress should be given to individual states and whether states’ powers comprising the health, welfare, and morality of the people should be addressed to the Congress.
In my point of view, it is a rather controversial question as it requires taking into account plenty of aspects such as individual peculiarities of states and their citizens. Speaking of the health care system, first of all, it is essential to mention children. For example, in situations of physical, emotional, sexual abuse, or by malnutrition, sometimes the intervention of the Congress is necessary to some extent. Another example is the limitation of infected patients, in other words, quarantine. In such cases, centralized measures aimed at ensuring the protection of population should be an integral part of the government policy (Swendiman, 2012). However, at the same time, one cannot completely convey the problem to the Congress because each state is different from the other one according to certain criteria that should always be taken into account (Hall & Feldmeier, 2012).
In the case of morality, I would like to mention as well the protection of citizens against inappropriate behaviour such as masturbation in public places or other types of inappropriate behaviour. However, I believe that the state should provide a solution to this problem mostly to the states.
With regard to welfare, I consider that social protection including social security, general issues of upbringing, education, science, culture, physical culture, and sport should be administered to states. The above are rather personal issues differentiating over states. Among benefits of allowing states to have this authority, one might observe the increasing development of the welfare sector due to the high motivation of citizens to improve their lives.
Speaking of powers that have been given to Congress but should remain with the individual states instead, I consider that there is almost nothing to change as it goes in accordance with the Constitution. However, perhaps, it would be better if particular states were permitted to promote the progress of science and arts by securing authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries. It should also be noted that in spite of the fact that some powers of the Congress might be delegated to states, it remains the main centralized authority of the United States.
In conclusion, it should be stressed that Congress should interfere in the health, welfare, and morality issues only to some extent. The United States is a large country with different geographical, social, and cultural peculiarities and, thus, the level of the economic development of different states varies. All in all, states possess the necessary scope for efficient solutions in order to improve the living standard of citizens and sufficient resources to implement these powers. At the same time, to solve the described issues, the Congress should carefully consider the consequences in both the short and in the longer terms.
References
Hall, D., & Feldmeier, J. P. (2012). Constitutional law: Governmental powers and individual freedoms (2nd ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.
Swendiman, K. S. (2012). Health Care: Constitutional Rights and Legislative Powers.Congressional Research Service. Web.