.Competitive Federalism was a major component of Lyndon B. Johnson’s "Great Society". President Johnson expanded the power of the national government’s ability to function in domestic policy. Under Johnson’s policies the Civil Rights Act of 1964was passed. This eventually extended into Equal Employment Opportunity Act of 1972. These acts imposed civil penalties on those who violated them. The Clean Air Act of 1970 is also another form of competitive federalism.Fiscal Federalism was set up in order to stabilize the national government by taxation and the actual level of spending. Ronald Reagan started to use the fiscal federalism policy to reduce the size of government and cut back on medicare and social security. This method was used to increase government spending and reduce taxes in order to bring about consumer spending and business investments. Fiscal Federalism has been used during the 1990s and it creates more inflation by increasing the national debt that is already huge.For the first time since the early 20th century the Supreme Court has taken steps that have halted the expansion of the federal government’s power. In the Supreme Court case the United States v. Lopez, the question at hand was whether or not the federal government had the authority to make carrying a firearm on school property a federal offense. Chief Justice Rehnquist declared that this offense was in no way a federal one. Since the student was a local student at a local level, the federal government could not impose any interstate regulations. In another recent case, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of a local government restricting a federal right. In the case Bethel School District No. 403 v. Fraser(1986), a high school student used profane language and sexual comments to describe another student at an assembly, the student was reprimanded by the school for the comments he made. The student claimed that by reprimanding h...
