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The decentralization of the United States is, in my opinion, a feature, not a bug. The upside inherent in fifty parallel and bespoke experiments in government
by ISL 8y ago
The decentralization of the United States is, in my opinion, a feature, not a bug.
The upside inherent in fifty parallel and bespoke experiments in government is worth the extra complexity and cost. Ideas are tried out, and can bubble outward and upward if they work. Bad ideas directly impact only ~2% of the country.
Furthermore, having state and local control over elections has a direct impact on legitimacy. I don't have to believe that someone in Washington DC is doing things right. Instead, I can interact directly with our state's secretary of state and our local county elections office.
Decentralization with heterogeneous procedures makes election compromise a much greater logistical challenge for any nefarious actor. It is probably a lot easier to spend money on lobbying.
Edit: Finally -- if you want your local/state elections infrastructure to have more resources, your voice and your vote are your tools.
- marmaduke 8y agoDecentralization may make targeted attacks easier compared to similar investment in a centralized equivalent (would be my guess at the argument here)
- everdev 8y agoIn principle, yes. In practice, a halted recount in FL in 2000 affected who represented 100% of Americans as President. The number of true "toss up" states is unfortunately fairly small.
- stephengillie 8y ago> Bad ideas directly impact only ~2% of the country. If only populations were so evenly distributed. 1/2 of Americans live east of the Mississippi, on 1/3 of the Continental US, and about 1/2 of the rest live on the West Coast. The mideastern states have very few residents.
- Armisael16 8y agoWhat are the mideastern states? If you mean the Midwest then I regret to inform you that Illinois, Ohio, and Michigan are all in the top 10 most populous states.
- stephengillie 8y agoYes, those 3 Mideastern states are east of the Mississippi. They're in the middle of the continent, and east of my state, so they are mideast to me. Not to be confused with Arabia, east Mediterranean, and Persian gulf.
- anigbrowl 8y agoThe upside inherent in fifty parallel and bespoke experiments in government is worth the extra complexity and cost. Ideas are tried out, and can bubble outward and upward if they work. Bad ideas directly impact only ~2% of the country. Don't agree. Just look at the history of Alec to see how local and regional governments are easily captured by self-serving actors. These are nice sentiments but the underlying assumptions are painfully naive.
- notable_user 8y agoGay marriage rights and now weed legalization are two recent examples of policy that I don’t think would have been possible in America (at least for a long time) without decentralized government. People got used to the idea in some more progressive states and it’s bubbling outward. Many states experiment with election law as well. California with top two primaries. It’s yet to be seen how that will play out, but we likely wouldn’t try on a national stage.
- drb91 8y agoThis doesn’t imply that elections themselves should be run in a decentralized manner.
- drb91 8y ago> Bad ideas directly impact only ~2% of the country. How do you figure? It could easily be 100%.