[over the mountain]

dang it trample, you caught my post before i could edit it. i mistakenly typed jefferson was the federalist's poster boy when really it is james madison.

but federalist stand for the position that local gov'ts should make decisions that are most intimate to the people they represent, since they are the closest to them and have a better feel for their interests/needs.

in today's society, federalist would want your local state representatives making policy regarding abortion, marriages, medical marijuana, etc. while the fed gov't would be limited to national matters such as international trade law, military, etc.

right now, there is a big argument in CA where, by state law, medical marijuana is legal but marijuana for any reason is illegal per federal rules. the fed gov't has raided medical marijuana distributors in CA under the interstate commerce clause, and CA is arguing you cant trump our state law since the fed gov' has no legit interest or standing regarding medical marijuana.

of course, the interstate commerce clause has been abused so hard that now the fed gov't can control what a farmer in idaho does with his corn since, theoreticaly, that corn could be shipped across state lines.

interstate commerce clause also was used in positive means by the fed gov't to instill national civil rights laws at places like hotels, restaurants who cannot discriminate against blacks since those black people could have traveled across state lines. so the florida state law which allowed hotels to not allow black people was deemed un constitutional under an interstate commerce clause argument.