{"id":12842,"date":"2026-03-17T07:47:05","date_gmt":"2026-03-17T11:47:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/openlab.bmcc.cuny.edu\/pol-100-0504-spring-2026-introduction-to-american-government\/?p=12842"},"modified":"2026-03-17T07:47:16","modified_gmt":"2026-03-17T11:47:16","slug":"db-7-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/openlab.bmcc.cuny.edu\/pol-100-0504-spring-2026-introduction-to-american-government\/2026\/03\/17\/db-7-1\/","title":{"rendered":"DB 7.1"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
    \n
  1. I think the role of citizens changes depending on how power is organized. In the U.S. federal system, people are connected to several levels of government. They can vote and are represented at the national, state, and local levels, which gives them more ways to participate and influence decisions. In a confederation system, most power stays with the states, not the central government. This means people are more involved with their state governments, and the national government does not have much control over them. Their voices matter more locally than nationally. In a unitary system, most power is held by one central government. Citizens mainly vote and interact with that government, and local governments do not have much independence.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. Dividing power means no single part of government has too much control. In the U.S., this happens in two ways. First, power is split between the federal government and the states, which is called federalism. Second, the federal government itself is divided into three branches: legislative, executive, and judicial. Each branch has its own job. One makes laws, one enforces them, and one interprets them. They also check each other, so if one branch gets too powerful, the others can limit it. The main idea is to prevent abuse of power and keep things balanced.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  3. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the federal government had a big influence on New York, even though states still had some control. One major way was through funding. The federal government gave money to states for hospitals, vaccines, and economic support. Because of this, New York had to follow certain guidelines to get that money. Another way was through national agencies and their recommendations. For example, federal health agencies set rules about masks, vaccines, and safety measures. Even if the state made its own choices, it still relied on federal guidance and resources. There were also times when New York leaders disagreed with the federal government about how strict policies should be. However, the federal government still had power because it could set nationwide policies, provide funding, and create rules that states had to consider. So, even though states like New York have their own authority, the federal government can shape what they do by using money, rules, and national leadership, especially during emergencies like COVID-19.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":11217,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"portfolio_post_id":0,"portfolio_citation":"","portfolio_annotation":"","openlab_post_visibility":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12842","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-discussion-board-7-1"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/openlab.bmcc.cuny.edu\/pol-100-0504-spring-2026-introduction-to-american-government\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12842","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/openlab.bmcc.cuny.edu\/pol-100-0504-spring-2026-introduction-to-american-government\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/openlab.bmcc.cuny.edu\/pol-100-0504-spring-2026-introduction-to-american-government\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/openlab.bmcc.cuny.edu\/pol-100-0504-spring-2026-introduction-to-american-government\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11217"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/openlab.bmcc.cuny.edu\/pol-100-0504-spring-2026-introduction-to-american-government\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12842"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/openlab.bmcc.cuny.edu\/pol-100-0504-spring-2026-introduction-to-american-government\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12842\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12843,"href":"https:\/\/openlab.bmcc.cuny.edu\/pol-100-0504-spring-2026-introduction-to-american-government\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12842\/revisions\/12843"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/openlab.bmcc.cuny.edu\/pol-100-0504-spring-2026-introduction-to-american-government\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12842"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/openlab.bmcc.cuny.edu\/pol-100-0504-spring-2026-introduction-to-american-government\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12842"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/openlab.bmcc.cuny.edu\/pol-100-0504-spring-2026-introduction-to-american-government\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12842"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}