Sunday, July 12, 2009
If we step back and really look at the condition of state government in the country, we see a mass of political failure, argues syndicated columnist Neal Peirce. Ten states ended their fiscal years still trying to resolve billion-dollar deficits, including massively dysfunctional California. Other states have endured embarrassing gubernatorial scandals, such as Mark Sanford of South Carolina or Rod Blagojevich of Illinois. Does it really make sense to continue to put so much stock in state governments when they routinely fail to responsibly and effectively lead? Or should we recognize where the real power is these days—in the cities.
Peirce writes: “If you believe numbers count, the real America of 2009 is focused in its 363 metro regions, especially the 100 largest—the citistates of our modern world—which account for 65 percent of U.S. population, 75 percent of our economic output, 76 percent of our good-paying “knowledge jobs,” and 94 percent of our venture-capital funding.”
If state leaders were smart, they “would grant autonomy” to urban regions so cities could “set goals and fashion their own tax systems, balancing property, sales and income for best results,” Peirce insists. “They’d be encouraged to merge their planning and priorities for roads and transit, housing, employment, environmental controls, so that they mesh and undergird each other.”
-Noel Brinkerhoff
Are America's State Governments Becoming Obsolete? (by Neil Peirce, Washington Post Writers Group)
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