Over the course of time, we’ve written repeatedly about the confusion many Americans have about which level of government provides which services. The example we typically use deals with roads: How many people can tell you whether a road near their home is owned and managed by their city, county or state? The answer is very few.
But in the past, we’ve largely omitted confusion about the services provided by localities that are generally thought of as the province of the federal government. This kind of civic illiteracy means that blame or credit for the success of efforts is often misplaced.
A few weeks ago, we pointed to one strong example; the widespread impression that threats of climate change are exclusively a federal problem. But as a recently released report from the National Academy of Public Administration (NAPA), points out that, the feds aren’t the only level of government that must be involved in meaningful solutions. That’s true in large part because adapting infrastructure to climate change is fundamentally a local government issue. As we wrote, “the potential impact is site-specific, local governments are primary responders to their communities' needs, and local governments have authority over land use.”
That’s just one example. Medicaid is another. A physician we know long talked about the Medicaid system as being very generous. Of course, that was because he was based in New York State, which provides a solid package of benefits. But just because New York did so, that didn’t mean that other places did, which would be the case only if Medicaid were exclusively a federal function. In fact, as most of the people reading this are aware, Medicaid is funded in large part by the states which administer the program. Still, when candidates for national office talk about the potential of cutting back on Medicaid, it’s easy to believe that the program belongs exclusively in their province.
Education is yet another area where there’s a vast amount of confusion. While the threat to defund the Department of Education is politically charged, that department only provides less than 14% of funding for public K-12 education. That doesn’t mean its role isn’t important. But it’s not where the big dollars come from.
One more: The Environmental Protection Agency gets credit for its hugely successful efforts to ensure that people have clean air and clean water. But the local governments play a huge role. They use zoning laws to control land use in a way that prevents water contamination; they manage water supply systems and it’s their job to determine the effectiveness of national water management programs.
We think this is a particularly pertinent time as election day draws near. Confusion over the place where services are delivered can translate into voting for the principles you believe; but not for the right person.
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