What are the pros and cons of federalism?

As reported in our text “every year, local, state, and federal governments spend $228 billion on the criminal and civil justice system in the United States” (p.6). This amount increases each year. Many argue that federalism is an outdated concept and that state governments are an anachronism. They argue that we could become more efficient and save billions of dollars by eliminating state governments and giving all powers to the federal government. What are the pros and cons of these arguments? Would concentrating all power in the federal government pose a serious threat to privacy and constitutional rights? What is your position on the issue?