2024 may be bumpy, but we can skip the pre­dic­tions of doom

In the midst of anoth­er con­tentious pres­i­den­tial elec­tion, par­ti­sans on either side pre­dict doom if the oppos­ing can­di­date wins. Elec­tions are impor­tant, but tran­si­tions in pres­i­den­tial pow­er don’t usu­al­ly cause the dra­mat­ic changes to nation­al char­ac­ter or day-to-day life that vot­ers may fear. This is thanks to our sys­tem of fed­er­al­ism, a prin­ci­ple to which vot­ers and lead­ers of all ide­olo­gies should recom­mit.
Fed­er­al­ism is the prin­ci­ple that law­mak­ing pow­er is appor­tioned to both the fed­er­al and state gov­ern­ments. This essen­tial part of the genius of the Con­sti­tu­tion is a fea­ture, not a bug, and it lim­its the direct impact of any one pres­i­den­tial elec­tion on our lives. By specif­i­cal­ly list­ing the pow­ers grant­ed to the fed­er­al gov­ern­ment, it con­strains nation­al pow­er and reserves the major­i­ty of aut …