Government Close to the People

Another significant benefit of federalism is that it keeps many political leaders, the decisions they make, and the implementation of public policy close to the people. Imagine that there was only one school board for the entire nation, and not the tens of thousands that exist. Finding someone in Washington who would listen to the concerns of a mother or father from Flagstaff or Little Rock or Topeka would be next to impossible. The school boards and school board members in each of these cities and ever other city in America, however, can be responsive to the comparatively much smaller number of people they serve. Federalism, with its multiple levels of government, keeps government much closer to the people than would otherwise be possible.