Stephen Goldsmith Quotes
Devolution [decentralization of government] cannot stop at the State House. It must go down to City Hall.
Stephen Goldsmith, Mayor of Indianapolis (Republican), Interview, NBC Meet the Press, June 23, 1996
Sourced by: Eigen's Political and Historical Quotations
Even in the 21st century, French Ministry of Education boasted that on any given day, they know what Algebra problems students throughout the country will be doing for homework that evening. The national government can control any aspect of French society.
Ironically, many Republican leaders give lip service to decentralized government but they fight hard for centralized national government making. Many want Congress to make laws governing abortion and other family planning techniques. Some want the state to decide, but almost no Republicans want to leave these personal decisions to the local government much less the family and women involved. In business regulation as well, republican fight tooth and nail to have Federal legislation prempt state and local government about tort liability for defective products, and they always prefer that the Federal SEC make all the rules and regulations about selling stocks and bonds and do not want state or local government to “interfere”. Likewise, they have emasculated the state governments when it comes to authority over the state militias where virtually all the controls and promotions are decided by Congress and the Department of Defense and not by Governors or local politicians. Ther are many other examples. In most of the solid Republican Southern States, the local school boards cannot even select the textbooks that schools will use and the Republicans centralize this with the State government and state legislatures which they control. Democrats also are generally opposed to decentralization except for large cities having control along with the Federal government but otherwise they too do not want decentralization. For national political parties, what is the point of winning national elections of the big decisions are made locally?
There was huge pressure on the central government to decentralize as they held all the power in Indonesian society. However, if they devolved power to the Provinces (States), many of them could be large enough and independent enough to secede and become an independent country as East Timor had done. So the Indonesian power structure bypassed the Provincial governments and devolved power directly to the local governments, none of which was independent enough to go it alone. The desired objective was met—no more secessions. However, there was no one to worry about regional and national issues and problems as the politicians who had power were all local. The country was becoming non-functional in many ways.
A Bill of Rights was needed Left before it ended.
Since Eleanor Roosevelt wrote this, the population has grown so rapidly, that many districts are so large, that most people only know a small percentage of their neighbors.
Whoever has the political control of the central government generally favors more centralized power and less decentralization. The opposition wanting to weaken the majority, tends to favor decentralization and states’ rights and the local governments.
There are a few exceptions where the teachers are allowed to share much of the policy making. When that does happen, they too have autonomy to protect. But in most school systems teachers have no power and are rarely consulted or given any voice about policies. They then have no autonomy to protect.
Stephen "Steve" Goldsmith is an American politician and writer who was the 46th mayor of Indianapolis. He also served as the deputy mayor of New York City for operations from 2010 to 2011. A member of the Republican Party, he ran unsuccessfully for lieutenant governor of Indiana in 1988 and governor of Indiana in 1996. He is currently the Daniel Paul Professor of Government, Director of Innovations in Government Program, and Director of Data-Smart City Solutions at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.
