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Genuine question curious to discuss with others: what is the purpose of states now anyway? States have all the inefficiency of competing against each other for

Genuine question curious to discuss with others: what is the purpose of states now anyway? States have all the inefficiency of competing against each other for tax dollars, having to promulgate separate laws and regulations, school curricula, inefficiencies in sharing information, it goes on and on. On the plus side (I'm trying to brainstorm) states enable (do they?) people to live in places with different ideals or laws, or standards of living? Is that true? Do people go somewhere to live because the state political/governmental structure is different from another? Does it protect or enable extremely conservative (or radical) communities that would be washed out to the average otherwise? Is it a protection against broad brush government that cannot know or correctly allocate funds and attention to small jurisdictions? Other than to emphasize or give power to certain differences in population that were baked in long ago, what purpose do states serve? In a country where people move and work almost without boundaries? Why not delegate some of the finances / taxation / regulation functions to the federal government? Is it more effective at a local level?

ceph_ 6y ago
I'd jokingly counter with what's the purpose of middle managers? We can just get rid of the middle layers of the bureaucracy right? But the pandemic should be a good example of the role state governments play. In this case with picking up the slack when the federal government is refusing to take action on a problem.
rossjudson 6y ago
The political structure of the USA is so screwed up at this point that I view leaning towards states' rights as one of the only viable pathways for the country to survive. Having Red and Blue come together is apparently not going to happen, and it's just getting worse and worse. Maybe the opposite is the way to go. A radical shift in power towards the states gives every subculture their own laboratory to live or die in. Liberal values can be protected in liberal states, and you'd see the opposite in conservative states. Maybe we could stop fighting for the federal right to shove our ideologies down the throats of states that don't want them. Different places would do different things, and that would be alright.
- baggy_trough 6y ago
  That is a conservative point of view, ironically. American progressives typically want the federal government to take even more control.

ceph_ 6y ago

I'd jokingly counter with what's the purpose of middle managers? We can just get rid of the middle layers of the bureaucracy right? But the pandemic should be a good example of the role state governments play. In this case with picking up the slack when the federal government is refusing to take action on a problem.

rossjudson 6y ago

The political structure of the USA is so screwed up at this point that I view leaning towards states' rights as one of the only viable pathways for the country to survive. Having Red and Blue come together is apparently not going to happen, and it's just getting worse and worse. Maybe the opposite is the way to go. A radical shift in power towards the states gives every subculture their own laboratory to live or die in. Liberal values can be protected in liberal states, and you'd see the opposite in conservative states. Maybe we could stop fighting for the federal right to shove our ideologies down the throats of states that don't want them. Different places would do different things, and that would be alright.

baggy_trough 6y ago
That is a conservative point of view, ironically. American progressives typically want the federal government to take even more control.