Federalism's Children

According to the New York Times, the New Jersey State Senate voted to approve a bill that would give employees the right to take six weeks paid leave to take care of a newborn infant, adopted child, or sick relative. If successful, New Jersey would become only the third state to give employees this right, after California and Washington State. Governor Jon Corzine has said that he would sign it. This law would obviously have a huge effect on working women (although not exclusively), which is why many women's organizations and blogs have come out in favor of the bill (such as Feministing and MomsRising). In California, more women have taken advantage of their plan than men have, which demonstrates the effect it could possibly have in New Jersey.
Bills like these are where federalism can be seen in action. Currently, the United States is one of only four countries that does not offer paid leave to new mothers. The idea has strong Republican and business opposition. And so, the bill has a greater chance of success if it goes through individual state legislatures as opposed to trying to become a national law, where it would be much more difficult to pass. Yet this is also the weakness of federalism. Why should a mom or dad in Oregon not be able to get paid leave after their daughter is born but their counterparts in California can? It is situations like these that show the idiosyncrasies of the American governmental system.