America, since 1787, has had a distinctive system of federalism. A number of responsibilities, such as national defense, are clearly given to the national government, but a substantial number of policy decisions rest with the 50 states.

Governors and state legislatures have been especially active in the past year. In many states, public policies have been enacted that push states politically to the far right or far left.

Colorado is just one example. Democrats took advantage of favorable gerrymandering and pushed through “progressive” legislation by raising the age limit to buy a gun. They acted on transgender rights by requiring gender-neutral bathrooms in new public buildings. They protected the right to abortion in most circumstances.

According to reports in The New York Times, what was happening in Colorado also happened in about 16 other states where Democrats dominated both houses of the legislature and controlled the governor’s office.

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Such a situation, where all three major power points – state House of Representatives, state Senate, and governor – are controlled by one political party is nicknamed a “trifecta.”

Meanwhile, Republicans in at least 22 states, where they are in control of both the legislature and the governorship, were using their power to legislate on similar subjects but to push in a different direction – a decidedly conservative direction.

Republican trifectas pushed for enacting strict anti-abortion laws, putting curriculum restrictions in public schools, enacting gay and lesbian rights regulations, and a doubling down on gun rights.

Or put it this way: Democratic legislatures and governors limited guns, but Republican legislatures and governors made it easier to carry guns in public places. Democratic legislatures and governors expanded transgender rights, while Republican legislatures and governors limited them. Democratic legislatures and governors facilitated abortions, but Republicans legislatures and governors made abortions harder to get.

The New York Times report used the term “bulldozed” to describe how the dominant party, whether Democratic or Republican, forced its legislation on the other political party. It also theorized the taking of strong stands on the nation’s thorniest social issues left significant portions of a state’s electorate, particularly moderate and unaffiliated voters, unrepresented.

States listed in the report as single-party control Democratic included California, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, and Washington state, as well as Colorado.

Some of the states listed as Republican dominated were Florida, Iowa, Mississippi, Montana, North Carolina, North Dakota, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Wyoming.

What is the meaning of this for Colorado?

Our state legislature is gerrymandered to favor the Democrats. They have 30 safe seats in the State House of Representatives compared to 19 safe seats for the Republicans. In the Colorado state Senate, the tally is 15 safe-Democratic seats and nine safe-Republican. The Democrats also hold the governor’s office.

But Colorado is not exceptional in this regard. In fact, it is normal. Add 17 states dominated by Democrats to 22 states dominated by Republicans, and you get 39 out of 50 states where one political party or the other has a clear advantage.

In only the remaining 11 states are both the Republicans and the Democrats able to compete evenly for state legislative and gubernatorial power, Only in those 11 states can the laws produced have a chance of being moderate and middle-of-the-road, neither far left or far right.

It presents a confusing future world in which, as one travels from state to state, abortion laws can change from permissive to strict, transgender rights can be strong or nonexistent, and automatic weapons can be legal on one side of a state boundary line and illegal on the other.

Coloradans should be aware of what is happening with state legislatures and governors in the United States. We are seeing more political polarization in the United States, with 17 liberal and progressive Democratic state governments on one side and 22 arch-conservative Republican state governments on the other.

But this is American federalism at work. At the U.S. Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia in 1787, a compromise was reached that gave some powers to the national government (now in Washington, D.C.) and reserved others to the 50 states, That compromise is still with us.

We do not want a heavily centralized top-down governmental system. But the price we pay for that is both diversity and complexity within our individual states. And right now, many of our states are tacking strongly left or decidedly right depending on their ideological leanings.

The bottom line is a “patchworky” system that is likely to remain this way for a significant time to come.

Tom Cronin and Bob Loevy write about Colorado and national political issues.