Local vs State Control

Imagine a state where decisions about local concerns are handled by local government, rather than getting kicked up to the statehouse.

Local governments have finite power given to them by state and federal government. So, the argument is more that state and federal government should actually exercise their authority to fix the underlying problem.Abstractly hyper local optimization is suboptimal.

That article is talking about local governments, not the federal government.

All politics is local. Every citizen of a city is also a citizen of the state. "Local" is a demarcation drawn where ever it's convenient for the speaker. A smaller group should not be able to supersede the superior authority at the larger polity's expense.In this case, the locally-optimal choices cities are making is having deleterious effects on the quality of life of the citizens of the state as a whole. It is perfectly reasonable for the state to therefore

It's easier for people to control their government at the local level, than at the national level. For instance, the city of Cambridge a year or so ago removed all the DHS cameras that were put up after 9/11. That wouldn't happen if they were controlled at the national level. Look at gay marriage or marijuana, only a problem at the national level - let the states do what they want; it's less of a chance of one group going in and ruining it for everyone. Sure, it's probably not optimal there

Local governments != Federal government. The Federal government could be significantly castrated without too many problems for most people. Dysfunctional local government is what I'd lose sleep over.

That's... not something that state or local authorities have the ability to do.

Whats wrong with locals deciding local issues?

It's tough politics for state legislatures to say "fuck you, cities, we're centralizing control in {Austin,Springfield,Albany}". They will essentially only do it if they are fearful of challenges in the next election by big money. In other words, states tend only to take over traditionally local issues when local government passes some ordinance odious to industry (see fracking in PA, Uber/Lyft background checks in Austin, etc.)

Can't read the article because the economist Saya I've read my free monthly limit.If the article is about governmental districts, it's because Americans are predisposed to having lots of small localized governments.Don't like what the guys 5 miles over are doing? Incorporate a township and run your own government.