For context:
State capacity is the ability of a government to accomplish policy goals, either generally or in reference to specific aims. More narrowly, state capacity often refers to the ability of a state to collect taxes, enforce law and order, and provide public goods.
A state that lacks capacity is defined as a fragile state or, in a more extreme case, a failed state. Higher state capacity has been strongly linked to long-term economic development, as state capacity can establish law and order, private property rights, and external defense, as well as support development by establishing a competitive market, transportation infrastructure, and mass education.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_capacity
I think the US has a severe lack of State Capacity at every level of government, evident by the fact that the government at every level can’t really raise taxes as much as they realistically should, and invest into the stuff they should, without causing a lot of backlash that could result in them being thrown out and replaced. How do you, personally, believe that this can be resolved (if you believe there’s a serious lack of State Capacity)?
Comments
The following is a copy of the original post to record the post as it was originally written.
For context:
> State capacity is the ability of a government to accomplish policy goals, either generally or in reference to specific aims. More narrowly, state capacity often refers to the ability of a state to collect taxes, enforce law and order, and provide public goods.
> A state that lacks capacity is defined as a fragile state or, in a more extreme case, a failed state. Higher state capacity has been strongly linked to long-term economic development, as state capacity can establish law and order, private property rights, and external defense, as well as support development by establishing a competitive market, transportation infrastructure, and mass education.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_capacity
I think the US has a severe lack of State Capacity at every level of government, evident by the fact that the government at every level can’t really raise taxes as much as they realistically should, and invest into the stuff they should, without causing a lot of backlash that could result in them being thrown out and replaced. How do you, personally, believe that this can be resolved (if you believe there’s a serious lack of State Capacity)?
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Yes, and honestly the filibuster is the single biggest problem here. The filibuster makes it extremely difficult to get anything actually done in the federal government, but is also a very technical procedural point, meaning that vibes voters have no idea what it is, and rather than getting mad at it, specifically, instead just become frustrated and angry at Congress in general failing to do the things they want done.
This has two extremely detrimental effects: it strongly insulates Republicans from the actual implications of the most crazy shit they propose, because they know they’ll never actually get to enact it; and it decreases citizens’ trust in the legislature to actually get things done, which increases their likelihood of turning to someone like Donald Trump, who promises to just break everything and get shit done, procedure and logic be damned.
I honestly think just abolishing the filibuster alone would be a massive win for both American democracy and America in general. It would create short-term pain as Republicans are suddenly able to actually enact their craziest ideas, but it would then rip off that band-aid and let voters actually feel the effects of those policies, and would then enable Democrats to do so much more once they regain control of the federal government.
Absolutely and I think the source is the extreme number of Vito points in our system.
In the federal government the filibuster is an obvious villain but it’s really more than that. I think we have like seven veto points for any piece of proposed legislation.
But we also just have layers of government. There are so many things we want to do that require worrying about the town government and then the county government and then the state government and then the federal government.
The amount of local government we have even in the best cases is just too much. Too much power in the hands of people who get almost no oversight because they’re too small for the media to care about and even the people who live in that town pay no attention to what they’re doing. And then you get places where the towns are just absurdly small and you’re hit with all of the inefficiency of the government offering services without any scale.
That’s what happens when you contract out everything and don’t allow the state to actually build things.
What a WEIRD ass thing to worry about.
Like, the house is burning down and you’re worried the water heater was too small.
We have a LOT of problems. This isn’t one of them.
Our problems are not because the government can’t do stuff, but because the people we elect don’t want to do stuff. Giving them more capacity to do stuff isn’t going to fix the problem.
Republicans want to lower taxes for the rich and privatize SS, Medicare, education, etc. Their entire platform is fucking the people so their rich buddies can get richer. They don’t WANT effective SS, effective medicare, medicaid, good education.
THAT’S the problem.
You’re not seeing the forest for the trees my friend.
America has a lot of state capacity, but there are a few components of our government that are profoundly dysfunctional. Famously congress struggles to pass anything, and it’s very easy for any one rep with a chip on their shoulder to throw a wrench in the whole thing. This can also happen at a lower level, where it’s very easy for obnoxious busybodies to block local construction etc.
Yes. We are at the failed state level. The two biggest problems are the undemocratic structure of the Senate with its filibuster, and the highly partisan supreme court with its extremist judicial overreach.
I don’t think Americans take their responsibility as citizens seriously enough. They’re the type of people to bitch about a 5 cent tax hike and density but bitch about why they don’t have any mass transit.