单选题
American federalism has been described as a neat mechanical
theory. The national government was said to be sovereign in certain areas of
governmental concern, such as the regulation of interstate commerce. State
governments were said to be sovereign in certain other areas, such as regulation
of intrastate commerce and exercise of the police power. One writer has
described this as the "layer cake" concept of American federalism. In the top
layer are neatly compacted all the powers of the national government; in the
bottom layer are found the separate and distinct functions and powers of state
governments. How nice it would be if the American federal
system could be so easily and conveniently analyzed. But Professor Martin
Grodzins of the University of Chicago has gone to describe federalism in
practice as more like a marble cake, with an intermingling of functions, than
like a layer cake, with functions separate and distinct. The intermingling can
be seen best, perhaps, by examining the example of railroad traffic. If it
crosses a state line, it constitutes interstate commerce, coming under control
of national government. Rail shipments originating and ending within a single
state constitute intrastate commerce, thus—the theory tells us—falling under
regulation of state government. However, both the interstate and intrastate
shipments may have moved over the same rails. In this simple example, one might
easily read the urgent necessity for close cooperation between state and
national governments. This need has not gone unrecognized by administrators of
governmental programs at the state, local, and national levels.
Nonetheless, national and state interests often conflict in the political area.
Pressures may be brought to bear down on state legislators which differ from
those felt by members of the national Congress. Disagreement over the proper
division of powers between states and the national government often lies beneath
a conflict of interests. But no best formula has been discovered for drawing a
dividing line between state powers and national powers. The men
who wrote the United States Constitution did the best they could in the face of
circumstances which confronted them at the time. The state-national power
dispute has raged persistently ever since. What are "states rights"? It is
obvious that, throughout the United States history, the issue of "states rights"
has arisen repeatedly as the painful wailed for any interest which they felt
being treated unsympathetically at a given moment by the national government.
The source of the cry would seem to depend on whose ox is being gored.
单选题
The "layer cake" concept is cited to show
A. separate and distinct functions and power between governments.
B. sovereign power of the national government.
C. regulation ofintrastate commerce in state governments.
D. exercise of the police power in state governments.