Essay on State and Local Government
1. Has the expansion of the
Internet weakened the power of the state and local government?
The Internet has indeed
become a powerful force for education as well as information. The continuous
development of technology however, has also caused the power of the state and
the local government to weaken in terms of concealing classified information
from the public. The prevalence of mobile gadgets such as cell phones, laptops,
tablets, and camera has made the Internet and technology a necessary part of
people’s lives. This has made it difficult for the government to practice
secrecy and clandestinity. This may be considered as both a benefit and
disadvantage on the public’s part. It can be seen as a benefit because it
allows the people to know important information; therefore fostering the
public’s right know. Some information however, is best left kept from public
knowledge as it may interfere with important State activities. This includes
military plans as well as negotiation tactics (Gaubatz, 2010, p1).
2. Should private
groups in a community be allowed to operate “charter” schools with public
funds? Explain. Do you favour the state providing tax-supported vouchers to
parents to use at any public or private school of their children? Explain.
The tax supported school
vouchers is one way of promoting both saving and efficiency of tax dollars. In
fact, reports suggest that the voucher program of the state of Florida has
allowed the state to save more as it will only cost $4,000 per student as
compared to the public school system’s spending of $7,000 per student. A reason
behind this is because a system that promotes monopoly rarely produces any
positive results. Whether it is apparent or not, the US public school is an
inefficient monopoly. Extending the voucher program will allow the government
to appropriate part of the budget for public schools to other equally important
projects such as security and improvement of public infrastructures among many
others (VonderHaar, 2013, p.1).
3. What are some of the
issues involved in planning and zoning by local government: Explain and give
examples.
Over the years, the public
has experienced a number of issues regarding the government’s planning and
zoning practices and procedures. For example most people complain that the
current code in their city is too dense and complex. In addition to this, the
current codes for most cities tend to be inappropriate because of the outdated
zoning practices and category. This then results to a number of illegal
structures as well as low compliance from the public. The Philadelphia Zoning
Code for instance, has been experiencing a number of difficulties which
includes a complex and convoluted zoning code. As such, the state decided to
create a simple and more user-friendly code which is up to date with their
modern city. Similarly, the city decided to develop the quality and planning
design of the city. At the same time, the local government coordinated the
zoning reform with standards that must be followed by the entire city (Zoning
Matters, 2013, p.1).
4. Should the state and local government provide some
assistance to upper middle class and wealthy residents hit hard by deep
recession and collapsing home prices?
Recession as well as the
collapsing home process has certainly left many Americans financially
challenged. Although the government is mostly focusing its assistance to
low-income and poor families, it is important to note that the middle class are
similarly suffering the same ordeal caused by the recession. Hence, it is
important for the State and local governments to extend their support to help
individuals from the middle class. As this social class is responsible for most
of the labor force, helping them will result to the invigoration of the economy
(Plummer, 2013, p.1).
References
Gaubatz, D. (2010). Secrets Your Government Hides.
Family Security Matter. Retrieved 1 July
2013, from http://www.familysecuritymatters.org/publications/detail/secrets-your-government-hides-from-you
“Issues in Zoning Code”. (2013) Zoning Matters.
Retrieved 1 July 2013, from
http://zoningmatters.org/issues
Plummer, B. (2013) How recession turned middle
class jobs to low wage jobs. The Washington
Post. Retrieved 1 July 2013,
from
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/02/28/how-the-recession-
turned-middle-class-jobs-into-low-wage-jobs/
VonderHaar, J. (2012). School Vouchers. The
Heartland Institute. Retrieved 1 July 2013, from
http://heartland.org/policy-documents/research-commentary-school-vouchers-are-cost-saver-taxpayers
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