Devil In Devolution Essay Research Paper Main

Devil In Devolution Essay, Research Paper

Main Points -

In “The Devil in Devolution” by John D. Donahue, he tells how he feels the state governments nowadays have way too much power in our society and the power of our federal government is declining. The issue of gay marriage raises debate on whether or not to have to have same sex marriages be acknowledged in other states. By having a gay marriage in one state not be acknowledged in another creates diversity among states and Donahue believes that marriage should be settled by national deliberation. Nevada created more revenue in state by creating lenient divorce laws and had people traveling to Nevada and paying to get divorced. The problem with this is that it takes money away from other states and by doing this it creates competition amongst each other. Nevada also creates competition with other states with its gambling laws. ” In 1988 Nevada and New Jersey were alone in allowing casino gambling, eight years later there were around 500 casinos operating in 27 states”. What this says is that states are catching on and realizing how many jobs and benefits these casinos creates and also that these states don’t want their residents money going to another states casinos. Donahue also talks about issues such as the environment that concern not only the state but also the nation as a whole. States can have very lenient or strict environmental laws but it can not only affect the state but its nearby states or maybe even the entire nation. Donahue says that a state could have very lenient pollution laws and that might not harm that state at all but if the pollution carries to another state this could create problems. The issue of slavery has already divided our nation once and showed us that having each state decide on its own whether or not to have an antislavery law brought us to war. The national abolition of slavery I believe brought our nation closer together and also brought us one step closer to a racially accepted society. Overall in “The Devil in Devolution”, Donahue expresses his distaste with how the federal government is running things in today s society.

My thoughts

I agree with Donahue on some thought s and disagree with him on others. Giving states more power has its advantage s and disadvantage s. Donahue does realize that different states have different priorities and that we live in a very diverse nation and this I why think that giving the states governments more power is a good thing because sometimes they need to address their own problems that might not concern the rest of the nation. States like Utah have a very conservative approach to everything and I think it s good to have different laws in these states to apply to the needs of their citizens. On the other hand giving state governments more power can create competition among states like it has with gambling. Competing with other states and having social issues that states disagree on can cause hostility amongst each other and maybe divide up the nation like it did with slavery back in the 1800 s and I think that’s why it is good sometimes to have one strong federal government to decide everything our nation. The subject of dividing the power in our government is one that has many different advantages and disadvantages and can always be scrutinized.