'To Bless All Mankind' August 28, 2017 Issue

The call for citizens to ‘go local’

The <i>Monitor’s</i> Editorial Board

Adapted from an article published in The Christian Science Monitor, February 12, 2017.

This year there have been calls for more local control from many politicians in France, Britain, Italy, and elsewhere. A similar move toward localism has emerged in the United States, across the political spectrum.

A good reason exists for countries to take partisan issues down to smaller communities. In local politics, where people are often neighbors, labels like red and blue mean less than the mutual desire to achieve practical solutions for concrete problems. Disputes are often resolved without pitched battles in courts or legislatures. And it is easier to hold people accountable.

According to a 2015 survey by the Heartland Monitor Poll, Americans clearly favor their state and local institutions over national institutions in providing opportunities, educating the young, and making neighborhoods more attractive places to live. The poll also revealed that more than half of Americans say they have the time or money to make an impact on their local community. The US Census estimates a third of Americans participate in at least one voluntary association.

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