The multiple faces of federal government

Federalism is often thought to be a form of government that favors liberty, in contrast to unitary forms of government. Federalism as a form of government actually presents several faces to the world, only one of which is liberty. Domination is another face, with some dominant interest often capable of being promoted more fully under federalism than under other forms of government. Yet another face is as laboratories of policy experimentation where different states can try different policy measures. While it is common to contrast federal and unitary forms of government, of far greater significance than this abstract contrast is recognition that the historical record reveals numerous substantive examples of each abstract form. With a unitary form, only one governmental entity can tax and regulate. With a federal form, multiple governments can do so. Whether the federal form truly promotes liberty is a challenging question to address.