MassEyesandEars at MyDD has
a post up on the subject of John Edwards and his proposed “New Partnership” with local government.
The post points out:
Local governments are day to day the face of government for most Americans and provide the services most people rely on the most. More than that, the struggles of our local governments are largely a reflection of the struggles of our communities and the disdainful treatment of the locals by the feds reflects the disdain the DC system has for everyone outside of it.
It also goes on to note two items in Edwards’ proposal having to do with health care costs — costs that are killing local government as they struggle to live within their means and, at the same time, honor their commitment to employees to provide health care coverage; and having to do with special education funding — apparently Washington is supposed to pay something like 40% of the cost of special education but routinely fails to provide even 20% of the cost, resulting in increased burdens on school districts and property taxpayers.
I haven’t read Edwards’ proposal, so I won’t comment specifically on it. I will say that, at a gut level, it feels wrong to pay so much in federal taxes relative to what I pay in local taxes given how much more I appear to be served by local government as opposed to federal government. Some of that is just an illusion, of course, — without a national defense, things would be quite different if the Canadian hordes came howling down from the northlands, for example. But, some of it has to do with criminally stupid expenditures of money. (See, e.g., Iraq, invasion and occupation of; Alaskan bridges, etc.)
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