Everyone, a priori, thinks "local control" means local power. But unfortunately it doesn't. It means the worst sort of leisurely fools who happen to be your ne

Everyone, a priori, thinks "local control" means local power. But unfortunately it doesn't. It means the worst sort of leisurely fools who happen to be your neighbors monopolizing local power, at everyone's expense. This is the problem with "democracy" as such. In the american mythology it's about self-governance, but the more "direct, local" one makes it, the more absurd such a proposition becomes. As an empirical matter, people cannot govern themselves. People are too poor in time, energy, concern, care, etc. to do so; and those who arent are the least fit to do it. Democracy was never, nor should be, about "self-governance". It's about accountability. It's simply a mechanism to prevent tyranny. The right "level" of democracy is one which maximises one's daily experienced freedom. And "local democracy" so often is a daily oppression on those who experience it. America is overwhelmed by local corruption, housing-associations, and the like. It's one of the major reasons I would never live there.