Tweet

Metropolitics: Why Local Government is the Solution to Preserve American Democracy (and Society)

Guest post by: Matt Harrison

Article Overview: It's quite unfortunate that American national elections are perceived as a Partisan Death Match through which 51% of the nation gets to impose its personal beliefs on the hapless 49% minority. America's Culture War (Kulturkampf for you Germans out there) is still raging, and is increasingly being fought over national social policy.

Metropolitics: Why Local Government is the Solution to Preserve American Democracy (and Society)

It's quite unfortunate that American national elections are perceived as a Partisan Death Match through which 51% of the nation gets to impose its personal beliefs on the hapless 49% minority. America's Culture War (Kulturkampf for you Germans out there) is still raging, and is increasingly being fought over national social policy. The federal government recently has been arrogating even more authority to dictate our social and economic affairs, whether in defining marriage, inhibiting free speech, or restricting various other forms of free expression. As a result, the livelihoods and interests of every American are increasingly at stake - and are increasingly disregarded in favor of the preferences of powerful special interests. National policy is becoming even more contentious, fractured, and overflowing with candidates promising that they will do everything for everyone - and then proceeding to do nothing for anyone. The libertarian, however, knows there is a better way.

The United States, according to the Constitution, was never intended to allow such majoritarian domination. Instead, our federal system is intended to allow states to experiment with different policies, effectively serving as a laboratory through which new social or economic policies can be tested for the benefit of those who want them. The Constitution's 10th Amendment guarantees this. It says, "Powers not delegated to the federal government...are reserved to the states, respectively, or to the people."

Many issues discussed by our aspiring presidential candidates, such as education, marriage, and social policy, are traditional spheres of state authority, allowing for state residents to choose between different approaches to the problem. While heroes of federalism like my governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, have taken strides to assert state independence in the face of the Federal Leviathan, the political trend clearly continues toward federal control. What results is bad national policy (see No Child Left Behind), Red State/Blue State divides in which opposing factions argue for completely contradictory values, and many other divisions in American society that endanger the cohesion of the American people. The solution to this national problem is to reverse the Big National Government trend and allow more local control by the people themselves, not less.

In today's pluralistic and highly mobile society, cities ("the people", according to the 10th Amendment) should have an increased ability to set their own policies - especially on contentious issues such as social policy. The principles and advantages of federalism still hold - it allows for local needs, encourages policy innovation, and makes government more responsive. The cities that provide effective and popular policies in their communities will find an easier time attracting residents, business and other investment. It's the Constitutional idea, but with 21st century advancement.

Now, this is a fine idea in the abstract, my readers are undoubtedly thinking, but how will it work in reality? Glad you asked.



San Francisco, CA | Gay Marriage

It's possible that diverse local policy might help bring a truce to some of the most contentious Culture War issues. San Francisco recently attempted to recognize gay marriages. Their attempt was rebuffed by the state, who informed them that only state law sets marriage policy. But why should this be the case? Why can't San Francisco (or any other gay-loving municipality, for that matter) be allowed to recognize gay marriages within their city limits? It clearly has no effect on the marriage of any person outside the city limits of San Francisco (the putative worry of conservatives), and allows the local achievement of a civil right (the concern of libertarians) without requiring national, or even state sanction. Such a localized policy will undoubtedly prove what this organization has argued all along - that the value of marriage is determined by the spiritual commitment of the two married parties, not by public policy.



Keene, NH | Gun Control

In Keene, New Hampshire, the residence of our libertarian friends over atFree Talk Live, it is perfectly legal to appear anywhere in public carrying a firearm in plain view. It's a very raw form of the right to bear arms, guaranteed by the Constitution to preserve personal security. The policy works great in New Hampshire, where the most likely reaction to your brandishing a weapon in public is for your neighbor to compliment it, show you his, and invite you to the shooting range on the weekend. But I have an apartment in downtown Los Angeles, California, where the same act would likely affront the 'hood dignity of an erstwhile felon who is much more likely, in response, to toss you a one-way ticket to the morgue through the barrel of his AK. That's not to say there aren't places in California where the public display of one's chrome four-fifth could work as well as it does in Keene. There certainly are, and those cities (undoubtedly, most of them are in Orange County) should be able to experiment with various firearm measures to achieve the correct balance of self-defense and public safety. It's an obvious solution. Who knows more about how to keep your local community safe - the people who live there, or Barack Obama?



Denver, CO | Drug Policy

Recently, the city of Denver passed a referendum, entirely legalizing marijuana possession for personal use for those 21 and over. The ordinance, however, faced a fate similar to San Francisco's attempt to liberalize marriage, and ended up ignored by the Denver police who continued to enforce the stricter state laws on cannabis possession.

Why should Denver be prohibited from respecting the preferences of its own people? Weed Haters are usually concerned about liberal state laws on cannabis attracting hordes of bohemian stoners into the state, presumably raiding suburban donut shops, sitting in parks, movie-hopping, and laughing uncontrollably in public, among other potential crises. But such Puritan fears counsel even more local control over drug policy, thus justifying Denver's legalization. If 54% of Denver's voters think the ability to toke up in the privacy of one's home is worth the potential emigration of Humboldt residents to the Mile High City (no pun intended), shouldn't they be allowed to deal with the consequences?

Drug War advocates need to see legalized, recreational cannabis use not causing the mass hysteria and social devolution they think it will. Many of these opponents rely on outdated agitprop like Reefer Madness, or past government warnings about cannabis (such as the fact it "causes White women to seek sexual relations with Negroes") to inform their opinions, having zero basis in fact or experience. However, nothing is instructive like reality. Cities should be given a chance to show the incredible ability of individual Americans to handle freedom and liberty - yes, even the freedom to smoke a little weed.



Miami, FL | Language

This organization recently advocatedfor the adoption of English as America's national language, for several good reasons that we outlined. But a common objection to this policy is that it harms immigrant communities. Local municipal policy would eliminate that objection, however. Cities like Miami, where Spanish is spoken more often than English, would be free to make Spanish and English co-official languages of the region. Thus, communities of non-English speakers could still be engaged in local government and receive local benefits, while English-speaking communities would still remain free to pursue linguistic assimilation and other important policies. Es muy facil, amigo.



Berkeley, CA | Economic Policy

Under our proposed system of local policy, the most economically "progressive" cities would have a greater ability to set local economic policy. If Berkeley wants to offer a nation-leading welfare program, it should be able to provide a $20,000 stipend for every Californian to take up residence in the city, or perhaps universal, high-quality health care, and it can then alone deal with the mass unemployment and non-existent labor productivity, among other economic consequences.

Progressives like George Lakaff, I believe, retain a shred of legitimacy only because their benighted economic policies have no chance of being implemented, and thus they can't be proven wrong. Allow cities to implement local socialism, for example, and you achieve two things to fix this quandary. a) You make progressives stop whining on National TV, since they finally can create the Worker's Paradise they so desire in their own backyard, and b) You prove the superiority of market capitalism, once the local tax base in Progressivopolis collapses down to nothing, Atlas Shrugged style. Sounds like a win-win situation to me.

Related Articles
  SME's - a wish list for Africa
  Succeeding and Serving
  Why We Want You to Be Rich
  The problem with taking taking sides is it usually means winners and losers
  You are too dumb to vote!
  The Recession and Canadian Government Grants For Business
  Different Types of Bonds
  Finding Inspiration In A Tough Economy
  Is the Government of Canada's Shared Services Strategy a Threat to Small Business (Survey Result 3)
  The Conscience Of A Restorationist, XI
  What Recovery
  Renewing Limited Government
  Article #6 Exhausted After Work With No Time For Family or Yourself?
  What Darwin Can Teach Us About the Economy
  Don't Get Sucked Into Class Envy
  SME's - the importance of communications for SME's in Africa
  SMB-Speak: Small Business & the American Dream
  Build Your Health To Build Your Wealth
  Rebuilding Brand America: What We Must Do to Restore Our Reputation and Safeguard the Future of American Business Abroad
  Health Habits: Get Fit, Save Money

Article Tags: american democracy, culture war, drug policy, gay marriage, gun control, local government, matt harrison, national social policy, the prometheus institute
Referred by: http://www.westwindcos.com



Related Forum Posts
Re: Google's April 2012 Update - As far as I understand, Google's main search mission is to deliver The Best Solution Possible, when you type in a query. This means that they kind of _cant_ teach people how to "game the system" and rank themselves. The way I see it, by the time Google's done evolving their algorithm, the only way to get to the top is going to be "Be A Fantastic Solution Provider... across the board... for your niche/keyword."
Re: Can someone explain Search engine optimization to me? - Hi, Ask yourself, "What is the goal of a search engine like Google?" A search engine's goal is to provide the most related (or best) web page results when someone searches. Do you think people are searching for "Auction Cars Government" or "Government Car Auction." In fact type those keywords into Google with the quotation marks. You will find that Google gives different results for each keyword phrases. Granted you get many of the web pages ranking the same but there is a difference. My answer is, use "Government Car Auction" or even "Government Seized Car Auction" because that is what people are searching for. That is how the majority of the indexed pages use. That is what makes sense when you read the phrase. Jeff
Research & Development Tax Credits - If anyone is involved in any sort of R&D I have a contact that can submit an application for you to the Government of Canada to get back upto 80% of expenses you may have incurred. Best of all - all this at no cost to you. She's worked with companies of all sizes and part of her services, which are included is how to structure yourself in the future to continue to receive these Government Tax Credits. She can even go back to the last three years in your books to get Tax Credits refunds as well. Email me and I can share her details with you.
Re: Hi there! I'm Shanuna Cortez - Welcome Shanuna to the club. We will like you to post and let us know more about British Entrepreneurship Society
Re: Obama Wants Social Security for Illegals - [quote="Alan Mater":1q4mpk8g][quote:1q4mpk8g] This is what happens when the Government gets involved and puts its nose where it shouldn't. Let the market correct itself. There is no reason for the Government to bail everyone out. If the businesses, mainly banks, weren't corrupted with greed, this wouldn't have happened. They are and it did, so let them dwindle away and pay for their mistakes. That's what any small business has to do. Why should they be any different. They have gotten away with it for over 10 years! Surely they should have seen this coming. [/quote:1q4mpk8g][/quote:1q4mpk8g] The same thing happened in the early 30's that's why the law to prevent these practices was put in place. But, during the Clinton administration people decided that eliminating that law would boost the economy - once again, that didn't work. Kind of reminds you of the saying that people who don't consider history are bound to repeat it. Chris


Share this article with your friends. Fund someone's dream.

Leave a comment below or share on the left and you'll help support entrepreneurs in Africa through our partnership with Kiva. Over $50,000 raised and counting - Please keep sharing! Learn more.

Newsletter

Get advice & tips from famous business
owners, new articles by entrepreneur
experts, my latest website updates, &
special sneak peaks at what's to come!

Name:
Email:

Popular Articles

If I Were Starting A Network Marketing Company...

Let's Skip the Offshore Horror Stories

How to Ask for a Flexible Work Arrangement

Suggestions

Email us your ideas on how to make our
website more valuable! Thank you Sharon
from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for
your suggestions to make the newsletter
look like the website and profile younger
entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez.