The Role of Washington Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

The Role of Washington - Coursework Example State sovereignty is usually under threat from the federal’s influential role in stirring state policies and initiatives (Cropf, 2008). In essence, the federal government is legally obliged to provide general funding to all states. However, the federal government bargains for excess power by attaching funding with regulations. Quite often, failure of compliance with federal regulations jeopardizes a state’s possibility of receiving full share of the general funding from the national government. Eventually, state governments are beholden to Washington, leaving state officials with limited resistance in policy formulation and implementation. Personally, I believe that the federal government has taken the lead in steering state politics towards national fronts. Despite the dominance of state sovereignty in formulation and adoption of state policies, it is acknowledgeable that federal supremacy often lurks behind any important initiative passed by each US state. For example in October 2013, California was under threat from the federal government concerning education policies in the state. California state officials exercised their sovereignty by implementing tailor-made testing in schools. However, the testing proposed by California officials failed to comply with federal rules on education (Elysse, 2013). Consequently, federal officials threatened to withhold $15 million in education funds from California, unless the non-compliant policies were tuned to the rhythm of the federal government. Consequently, California caved in under the immense pressure of federal influence in the state’s education policies. In this regard, I think the federal government champions development and implementation of policies at both the state and national