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For the most part, people trust their state and local governments, but distrust the federal government; state politicians are commonly re-elected until they cho
by dx87 8y ago
For the most part, people trust their state and local governments, but distrust the federal government; state politicians are commonly re-elected until they choose to retire. I think it's because the country is so large and diverse that what's good for one state may not be good for another. We've got cities and states with a higher population and more economic power than some of the EU members, but a huge geographic divide in the middle of the country. Culturally, people on the west and east coasts seem to be different enough that they don't agree with the politicians that are elected, then you have smaller states that feel bullied by the bigger states like New York and California. Eventually it starts to feel like the only people you can trust to look out for your interests are state and local politicians.
I've seen a similar sentiment from citizens of smaller EU members who feel that Germany and France are willing to push for changes that benefit themselves and the EU as a whole, even if the changes are detrimental to the smaller states.
- dsfyu404ed 8y agoDepends on what you're trusting them to do. Here's my personal ranking: When it comes to "I trust the government not to send a bunch of thugs to kick down my door and shoot my dog for no good reason" I personally rank them local > state > federal For "I trust the government to spend my money wisely" it goes state > federal > local For "I trust the government not to pass legislation that makes my life worse" it goes federal > local > state. My local government is inept, corrupt and burns money like a German housewife in 1923 (A 100ft ladder truck when the tallest building is 3-stories, a boondoggle of a new highschool, a town run pet cemetery for Christ sake!!!) but mostly harmless. My state government is hell bent on screwing over certain classes of people and passing laws that annoy everyone for political virtue points (and it is a 1-party state so there's no stopping them) but they mostly spend their money wisely. The feds wrongly harm a lot of people (some violently, some not so violently) and aren't all that great with money but they're too gridlocked to enshrine any real stupidity in law.
- DesiLurker 8y agoWithout knowing which state you live in I can tell this is so true. So much so that it make me wonder if there is a structural reason for this?
- dsfyu404ed 8y agoYou know how some countries feel the need to prefix their name with the word "Democratic" and it's basically a guarantee that not much democracy is happening there. I feel the same way about the word "Commonwealth" when applied to US states. It's basically a dead giveaway that the government prioritizes itself above the common interest. I live in one of those states.