Federalism

Federalism as most of us know is the idea how situations are handled by the most local unit of government covering all the parties. That is, a case of a dispute between two parties in a given city is resolved by the local government. A problem with a lake spanning multiple counties in a state is handled by the state, and so on.

Our nation was founded with the idea of federalism. The 13 original states banded together to provide for functionality too big to be provided by any single state, but they set up the framework in such a way states could carry on their business the way they saw fit.

However, I am not certain if anyone much believes in federalism anymore, right or left.