Local Progress: Uncle Sam might not be the answer
January 29, 2022 9:08 PM Subscribe
From The Atlantic: Could the self-paralysis of American national governance somehow usher in a rebirth—our own Dark Ages, but in a good way? Examples include a state university running a local K-12 school system, free community college in more than a dozen states, and mayor and governors stepping up to the plate on climate change after Trump the USA out of the Paris climate accord.
Local Progress offers other examples, including limiting police collaboration with ICE, and many other strategies.
In Albuquerque, the city has begun its Community Safety Department, which handles concerns such as mental disturbances and welfare checks.
Any progressive innovations in your area?
Local Progress offers other examples, including limiting police collaboration with ICE, and many other strategies.
In Albuquerque, the city has begun its Community Safety Department, which handles concerns such as mental disturbances and welfare checks.
Any progressive innovations in your area?
archive of Atlantic Article
'Why local innovation is the answer''/ James Fallows
posted by clavdivs at 10:12 PM on January 29, 2022 [1 favorite]
'Why local innovation is the answer''/ James Fallows
posted by clavdivs at 10:12 PM on January 29, 2022 [1 favorite]
ACOUP is only two parts into its Rome: Decline And Fall? series and I’m feeling like this article’s Cato/Cicero/Caligula/Nero progression example might not bear much scrutiny.
There are probably places where local control will be a great experience for local people. There are probably also other places where it will be a shitshow, such as the ones where the Voting Rights Act, Roe vs. Wade, and the Emancipation Proclamation were necessary. I’m bothered at how lightly this article predicts how we’ll all go our separate ways with an equal share of the coffee without mentioning that.
posted by migurski at 12:46 AM on January 30, 2022 [45 favorites]
There are probably places where local control will be a great experience for local people. There are probably also other places where it will be a shitshow, such as the ones where the Voting Rights Act, Roe vs. Wade, and the Emancipation Proclamation were necessary. I’m bothered at how lightly this article predicts how we’ll all go our separate ways with an equal share of the coffee without mentioning that.
posted by migurski at 12:46 AM on January 30, 2022 [45 favorites]
There are probably places where local control will be a great experience for local people. There are probably also other places where it will be a shitshow, such as the ones where the Voting Rights Act, Roe vs. Wade, and the Emancipation Proclamation were necessary. I’m bothered at how lightly this article predicts how we’ll all go our separate ways with an equal share of the coffee without mentioning that.
Everything more direct and local in theory means more responsive to population need, etc, etc. It also means the postcode lottery just got a shot of steroids.
posted by Dysk at 2:33 AM on January 30, 2022 [11 favorites]
Everything more direct and local in theory means more responsive to population need, etc, etc. It also means the postcode lottery just got a shot of steroids.
posted by Dysk at 2:33 AM on January 30, 2022 [11 favorites]
One invisible wealth tap the nice zip codes have on the not-so-nice is housing rents -- a one-way flow of immense proportion.
At least at the State level this can be evened out [though Wall Street buying up housing stock is challenging this] . . . devolving to counties or lower Would Be Bad.
posted by Heywood Mogroot III at 2:57 AM on January 30, 2022 [3 favorites]
At least at the State level this can be evened out [though Wall Street buying up housing stock is challenging this] . . . devolving to counties or lower Would Be Bad.
posted by Heywood Mogroot III at 2:57 AM on January 30, 2022 [3 favorites]
This thesis sounds like it was written by someone safely ensconced in the modern post-Roman world. Maybe I'll have to read his book to get details about how it "wasn't that bad" for ordinary people living though that period, but the article doesn't really provide any examples to back up that claim other than to imply that hundreds of years later things worked out and became the world we have now. Genetic algorithms are a great way to throw everything at the wall and see what sticks, but only if you're not one of the people living inside them.
I know that Late Antiquity wasn't a miserable hellscape, but it also wasn't a utopian laboratory for constructing the modern welfare state either, which is kind of that the author is implying. Rome didn't "fall" but this is also an era where the shattering of central power lead directly to feudalism in many areas.
posted by RonButNotStupid at 4:07 AM on January 30, 2022 [13 favorites]
I know that Late Antiquity wasn't a miserable hellscape, but it also wasn't a utopian laboratory for constructing the modern welfare state either, which is kind of that the author is implying. Rome didn't "fall" but this is also an era where the shattering of central power lead directly to feudalism in many areas.
posted by RonButNotStupid at 4:07 AM on January 30, 2022 [13 favorites]
This might just be a crazy idea, but is anyone else wary of articles written about how "the coming devolution of all things might not be so bad" when written or published by people whose wealth, viewpoint, and privilege keep them from being able to even acknowledge, let alone admit the strife those changes will have on anyone misfortunate enough to not have that same level of insulation?
"The whole thing falling apart won't be so bad, as long as you live in the right place, and have the right resources" doesn't seem like a compelling argument for letting everything fall apart, unless one has the right things and lives in the right place. If you do, and have, and it still seems like a good argument, well, then, you, my good friend, are more likely than not, an asshole of the first order.
posted by Ghidorah at 4:36 AM on January 30, 2022 [67 favorites]
"The whole thing falling apart won't be so bad, as long as you live in the right place, and have the right resources" doesn't seem like a compelling argument for letting everything fall apart, unless one has the right things and lives in the right place. If you do, and have, and it still seems like a good argument, well, then, you, my good friend, are more likely than not, an asshole of the first order.
posted by Ghidorah at 4:36 AM on January 30, 2022 [67 favorites]
That's great for wealthy white people in prosperous enclaves like the author. What happens to the Black people of Mississippi, the Chinese immigrants in New York City, or the Sioux in South Dakota under this system? Giving up and turning everything over to local control also means the wealthy white people already in control continue or increase their oppression of everyone else without a federal government keeping them in check. Witness what happened when Shelby gutted the Voting Rights Act. Now imagine that happening to every other bit of Civil Rights progress made over the last 100 years.
posted by hydropsyche at 4:48 AM on January 30, 2022 [30 favorites]
posted by hydropsyche at 4:48 AM on January 30, 2022 [30 favorites]
This sounds like the broken-window fallacy (“vandals breaking windows help the economy by keeping glaziers in business!”), only on a national and historical scale.
posted by acb at 5:02 AM on January 30, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by acb at 5:02 AM on January 30, 2022 [2 favorites]
Everything more direct and local in theory means more responsive to population need, etc, etc
More responsive to the demands of the local population in power. Which is good if your local powerful people care about human rights and civil rights and the general welfare, and not so good if their priority is protecting themselves and their own comfort at the expense of anyone else.
I mean local control can work out to a state providing abortion protections that the federal government doesn't. Or it can mean a state making abortion practically impossible even if the federal government allows it. It can mean a state making gay marriage legal before the federal government does, and it can mean a state perpetuating discrimination against trans people that the federal government does not. It can mean a municipality distributing free masks and testing kits and implementing lockdowns and mask mandates during outbreaks when state government refuses to act, and it can mean a municipality refusing to obey state mask mandates and lockdowns and throwing away the funding it gets for ppe and vaccines.
Local and centralized power can counterbalance each other usefully, but neither one tends inherently toward good or bad.
Local government has been the false idol of Republicans forever, and "the federal government can't fix anything" is a self-fulfilling prophecy if ever there was one. Giving up on any level of government - local, state, or federal - is not the answer. They all matter.
posted by trig at 5:31 AM on January 30, 2022 [37 favorites]
More responsive to the demands of the local population in power. Which is good if your local powerful people care about human rights and civil rights and the general welfare, and not so good if their priority is protecting themselves and their own comfort at the expense of anyone else.
I mean local control can work out to a state providing abortion protections that the federal government doesn't. Or it can mean a state making abortion practically impossible even if the federal government allows it. It can mean a state making gay marriage legal before the federal government does, and it can mean a state perpetuating discrimination against trans people that the federal government does not. It can mean a municipality distributing free masks and testing kits and implementing lockdowns and mask mandates during outbreaks when state government refuses to act, and it can mean a municipality refusing to obey state mask mandates and lockdowns and throwing away the funding it gets for ppe and vaccines.
Local and centralized power can counterbalance each other usefully, but neither one tends inherently toward good or bad.
Local government has been the false idol of Republicans forever, and "the federal government can't fix anything" is a self-fulfilling prophecy if ever there was one. Giving up on any level of government - local, state, or federal - is not the answer. They all matter.
posted by trig at 5:31 AM on January 30, 2022 [37 favorites]
(just to note that my objection is to the framing here of decentralized government as being "better" -- but not to the idea that local governments can do great stuff to counterbalance or prod other levels of government, or bringing in examples of great local initiatives or innovations.)
posted by trig at 5:37 AM on January 30, 2022 [3 favorites]
posted by trig at 5:37 AM on January 30, 2022 [3 favorites]
"A few places try to make up for the failure of a failed state" isn't good news.
posted by Foosnark at 6:00 AM on January 30, 2022 [41 favorites]
posted by Foosnark at 6:00 AM on January 30, 2022 [41 favorites]
Decentralised/localist government can be a race to the bottom on things requiring consensus, such as restricting carbon emissions. If the Commonwealth of Cascadia slaps on a swingeing carbon tax but the Free Sodality of Wyoming pooh-poohs any environmental regulation as a Marxist-globalist attack on God-given liberties, heavy polluters can just up sticks and move to Wyoming, keeping carbon emissions constant.
The Treaty of Westphalia nation-state is arguably showing its age as the optimum unit of sovereignty, but adjustments need to be made in both directions, with some things being more localised (like, for example, the official use of local languages and recognition of cultural practices, or adjustments to local geography) and others more coordinated on a global scale. Environmental regulations and minimum taxes are two that come up, though there are also overarching standards that we'd benefit from being unified (vaccination certificates are a timely example; the EU has one interoperable standard, but it's not compatible with the US or Australia).
posted by acb at 6:12 AM on January 30, 2022 [13 favorites]
The Treaty of Westphalia nation-state is arguably showing its age as the optimum unit of sovereignty, but adjustments need to be made in both directions, with some things being more localised (like, for example, the official use of local languages and recognition of cultural practices, or adjustments to local geography) and others more coordinated on a global scale. Environmental regulations and minimum taxes are two that come up, though there are also overarching standards that we'd benefit from being unified (vaccination certificates are a timely example; the EU has one interoperable standard, but it's not compatible with the US or Australia).
posted by acb at 6:12 AM on January 30, 2022 [13 favorites]
This might just be a crazy idea, but is anyone else wary of articles written about how "the coming devolution of all things might not be so bad" when written or published by people whose wealth, viewpoint, and privilege keep them from being able to even acknowledge, let alone admit the strife those changes will have on anyone misfortunate enough to not have that same level of insulation?
Fun fact: you can comment this on any article from The Atlantic and it still largely holds true!
posted by rorgy at 6:56 AM on January 30, 2022 [26 favorites]
Fun fact: you can comment this on any article from The Atlantic and it still largely holds true!
posted by rorgy at 6:56 AM on January 30, 2022 [26 favorites]
We already have right-wing barbarians showing up at school board meetings across the country, trying to pull down the props of civilization. School board meetings that are already very decentralized, by the way. The difference with Rome is that our barbarians are not invaders.
posted by gimonca at 7:22 AM on January 30, 2022 [21 favorites]
posted by gimonca at 7:22 AM on January 30, 2022 [21 favorites]
Most people’s daily lives have always been more determined by state & local government than federal. School boards, utilities, transit systems, zoning regs, etc.
posted by haptic_avenger at 7:23 AM on January 30, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by haptic_avenger at 7:23 AM on January 30, 2022 [1 favorite]
This idea seems strangely familiar...
(it was bullshit in the UK too)
posted by polytope subirb enby-of-piano-dice at 8:12 AM on January 30, 2022 [2 favorites]
(it was bullshit in the UK too)
posted by polytope subirb enby-of-piano-dice at 8:12 AM on January 30, 2022 [2 favorites]
I spent most of the last guy's administration trying to thwart the total inaction and sometimes malicious action of one of his agencies with local resources. It is not the way to go.
posted by praemunire at 8:30 AM on January 30, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by praemunire at 8:30 AM on January 30, 2022 [2 favorites]
There is an article out there about local governments and movements for rights and equality and justice rising to take control of the state from the thieves in power, but I couldn't rely on the Atlantic to publish it.
posted by eustatic at 8:54 AM on January 30, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by eustatic at 8:54 AM on January 30, 2022 [2 favorites]
This was written in 2019 before the US federal government decided to give up on germ theory so I'm gonna say universal buy-in on that IS actually quite important and not optional.
posted by bleep at 9:53 AM on January 30, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by bleep at 9:53 AM on January 30, 2022 [2 favorites]
The difference with Rome is that our barbarians are not invaders.
Yeah but they still sound like they're just muttering "bar bar bar" over and over...
posted by Your Childhood Pet Rock at 10:24 AM on January 30, 2022 [3 favorites]
Yeah but they still sound like they're just muttering "bar bar bar" over and over...
posted by Your Childhood Pet Rock at 10:24 AM on January 30, 2022 [3 favorites]
One of the advantages of the federal government is that it's supposed to be too big to be coopted by commercial forces; unfortunately that no longer holds true, in this anti-regulatory monopoly world the Reagans and the Borks have given us.
But anyone who thinks that local and state governments will have more ability to withstand pressure from exploitive industries than the federal government is not seeing reality. Just witness what happened with the meat packing plants in many states. Tyson and other firms lobbied hard against state and local public health officials, and kept the plants open, without improving ventilation or providing PPE, and many people died.
posted by suelac at 10:43 AM on January 30, 2022 [6 favorites]
But anyone who thinks that local and state governments will have more ability to withstand pressure from exploitive industries than the federal government is not seeing reality. Just witness what happened with the meat packing plants in many states. Tyson and other firms lobbied hard against state and local public health officials, and kept the plants open, without improving ventilation or providing PPE, and many people died.
posted by suelac at 10:43 AM on January 30, 2022 [6 favorites]
Thanks for posting, NotLost. I did a master’s in ancient history, and I think along these lines frequently — not so much the “maybe it’s good, actually,” bit, but the idea of transition and shift, rather than collapse. The Fall of Rome took 1000 years, etc., and it wasn’t all horrible out there.
posted by cupcakeninja at 11:27 AM on January 30, 2022 [4 favorites]
posted by cupcakeninja at 11:27 AM on January 30, 2022 [4 favorites]
This seems a bit naive in light of how conservatives actually exercise power. They claim to uphold local over national control, but red state legislatures frequently prevent blue city governments from raising minimum wages or removing Confederate monuments, and the Trump administration tried to bar California from having higher fuel standards than the rest of the nation.
If California manages to pass CalCare, respect for local control isn’t going to prevent a 6-3 Supreme Court from finding it unconstitutional.
posted by chimpsonfilm at 12:17 PM on January 30, 2022 [16 favorites]
If California manages to pass CalCare, respect for local control isn’t going to prevent a 6-3 Supreme Court from finding it unconstitutional.
posted by chimpsonfilm at 12:17 PM on January 30, 2022 [16 favorites]
I remember when this article was first published. I assumed it was a teaser for an upcoming book, but that doesn't seem to have been published yet.
Having a structure that allows for local experimentation is great, because it lets cities or regions try new approaches that, if they work well, might catch on more generally. A lot of the academic and journalistic focus on this has tended to be on progressive local control, in part because it shows how some things are still possible in a more conservative context where nationally progressive implementations are not possible. The classic study is probably Jaggi's Red Bologna (link is to a Jacobin article about the text), but there have been dozens and dozens of case studies of local progressive governance over the decades. In a few cases that local control has provided a pathway to national power, but a lot of the examples are of relatively short lived success, or of experiments, like setting up a local currency, that never really catch on and spread.
And, as has been pointed out, there's nothing inherently progressive about local control -- if the progressives have the space to develop local experiments, so do people of other political bents. Molotch's classic "City as a Growth Machine" study is basically about how a "land-based elite" (i.e., real estate developers, land owners, local boosters, city politicians, etc) seizes and wields the controls of local power to enrich itself while pushing the social costs onto others.
So while I'd strongly argue in favor of giving localities sufficient space to experiment, it's not a panacea for losing control of national or trans-national institutions.
posted by Dip Flash at 12:20 PM on January 30, 2022 [4 favorites]
Having a structure that allows for local experimentation is great, because it lets cities or regions try new approaches that, if they work well, might catch on more generally. A lot of the academic and journalistic focus on this has tended to be on progressive local control, in part because it shows how some things are still possible in a more conservative context where nationally progressive implementations are not possible. The classic study is probably Jaggi's Red Bologna (link is to a Jacobin article about the text), but there have been dozens and dozens of case studies of local progressive governance over the decades. In a few cases that local control has provided a pathway to national power, but a lot of the examples are of relatively short lived success, or of experiments, like setting up a local currency, that never really catch on and spread.
And, as has been pointed out, there's nothing inherently progressive about local control -- if the progressives have the space to develop local experiments, so do people of other political bents. Molotch's classic "City as a Growth Machine" study is basically about how a "land-based elite" (i.e., real estate developers, land owners, local boosters, city politicians, etc) seizes and wields the controls of local power to enrich itself while pushing the social costs onto others.
So while I'd strongly argue in favor of giving localities sufficient space to experiment, it's not a panacea for losing control of national or trans-national institutions.
posted by Dip Flash at 12:20 PM on January 30, 2022 [4 favorites]
"mayor and governors stepping up to the plate on climate change after Trump the USA out of the Paris climate accord"
The environment doesn't really work that way, hence the existence of a Paris climate accord.
posted by Selena777 at 12:39 PM on January 30, 2022 [4 favorites]
The environment doesn't really work that way, hence the existence of a Paris climate accord.
posted by Selena777 at 12:39 PM on January 30, 2022 [4 favorites]
They claim to uphold local over national control, but red state legislatures frequently prevent blue city governments from raising minimum wages or removing Confederate monuments
Yep. Hilarious to see 45's administration abruptly abandoning the conservatives' long-cherished position that Federal Preemption Is The Spawn of Satan. Ha ha funny, truly.
posted by praemunire at 2:34 PM on January 30, 2022
Yep. Hilarious to see 45's administration abruptly abandoning the conservatives' long-cherished position that Federal Preemption Is The Spawn of Satan. Ha ha funny, truly.
posted by praemunire at 2:34 PM on January 30, 2022
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