Document Type

Article

Publication Title

Minnesota Law Review

Abstract

"Value" is a word of many meanings. It can be used to refer to something believed to have worth, as in "I value your friendship." In a different sense, "values" are a set of ideals or beliefs, as in 'Tfamily values." In yet a third sense, "value" or "values" implies a metric, as in "what is the value of X" or "how much value should I attach to that?" In speaking of "valuing federalism," this Article relies upon all three of these senses of the word. The central point is that we do not value (care about) federalism as much as we might because we have made too little effort to value (weigh or measure) the worth of the values (ideals) federalism is said to serve. Initially, one might question this assertion. After all, politicians talk at length of the importance of federalism, especially today when the awkward term "devolution" is very much on the lips and minds of those who govern. Constitutional decisions of the nation's highest court contain paeans to the federal system. And academic literature richly extols the oft-expressed reasons underlying the American invention of divided government. Much of this is just talk, however, evidencing little real effort to understand the tangible benefits of a federal system, or to take account of when governmental power sensibly is exercised at one level or another.

First Page

317

Volume

82

Publication Date

1997

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