2 ms·

Perhaps the correct reaction is that the US has pushed responsibility down to levels smaller than can handle it already.

eru 7y ago
Well, you'd have to separate accidental incompetence from what the specific level can truly handle. In terms of numbers of people, many US states are bigger than entire European countries. And American counties and cities aren't really smaller in terms of people than they used to be throughout history (or are they) or what we have in other countries in general.
- lazyasciiart 7y ago
  American local government is unlike any other system I know. The most insane thing is police departments - each County has a completely independent police department, within a county each city will have their own police department, even many universities have police department of their own! Within ten miles of my house I think there are 8 police jurisdictions. Besides the silly amount of overhead introduced by having tiny "cities" with police departments making up several percent of their population (https://www.nj.com/news/2017/12/new_jersey_smallest_towns_with_their_own_police_de.html https://www.nj.com/news/2017/12/new_jersey_smallest_towns_wi...) this introduces obvious difficulties of coordination and communication - a few years ago there was a serial rapist who spread his crimes over multiple police jurisdictions so nobody identified the pattern until, by complete coincidence, a husband and wife who worked in different police departments talked to each other about a case she was working on. https://www.denverpost.com/2019/09/17/netflix-unbelievable-colorado-detective-stacy-galbraith/ https://www.denverpost.com/2019/09/17/netflix-unbelievable-c... Next you have school districts, which are approximately 90% designed in order to segregate black kids from white kids, and the other 10% of justification is a race-blind desire to not pay for other kids to go to school, just your own. https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/7/27/16004084/school-segregation-evolution https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/7/27/16004084/s...

eru 7y ago

Well, you'd have to separate accidental incompetence from what the specific level can truly handle. In terms of numbers of people, many US states are bigger than entire European countries. And American counties and cities aren't really smaller in terms of people than they used to be throughout history (or are they) or what we have in other countries in general.

lazyasciiart 7y ago
American local government is unlike any other system I know. The most insane thing is police departments - each County has a completely independent police department, within a county each city will have their own police department, even many universities have police department of their own! Within ten miles of my house I think there are 8 police jurisdictions. Besides the silly amount of overhead introduced by having tiny "cities" with police departments making up several percent of their population (https://www.nj.com/news/2017/12/new_jersey_smallest_towns_with_their_own_police_de.html https://www.nj.com/news/2017/12/new_jersey_smallest_towns_wi...) this introduces obvious difficulties of coordination and communication - a few years ago there was a serial rapist who spread his crimes over multiple police jurisdictions so nobody identified the pattern until, by complete coincidence, a husband and wife who worked in different police departments talked to each other about a case she was working on. https://www.denverpost.com/2019/09/17/netflix-unbelievable-colorado-detective-stacy-galbraith/ https://www.denverpost.com/2019/09/17/netflix-unbelievable-c... Next you have school districts, which are approximately 90% designed in order to segregate black kids from white kids, and the other 10% of justification is a race-blind desire to not pay for other kids to go to school, just your own. https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/7/27/16004084/school-segregation-evolution https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/7/27/16004084/s...