78-04-B5
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Local Control I
TranscriptThe whole principle behind our system of autonomous local governments, sovereign states and finally a federal government with limited powers is the preservation of individual freedom by keeping as much government as possible as close to the people as possible. With few exceptions, money spent by local government has less waste and administrative overhead than we find at the state level, and less at the state level than we find in the federal behemoth. For one thing people are more aware of local spending, better able to see the result and more likely to hold their local officials responsible. After all, they live in the same community. I'm willing to admit New York City might be an exception. The United States Statistical Abstract reveals some pretty convincing evidence to support the statements I've just made. For every elected official at the local level there are 19 fulltime government employees. At the state level there are 290 bureaucrats for each elected officer and in the federal government the ration jumps to 5,800 bureaucrats for every elected official. Dividing 19 into 5,800 you can see that we have about 300 times more voter control over the bureaucrats' spending locally than we do at the federal level. And make no mistake about it, actual spending for the most part is done by those permanent employees of government. Our only control over them is by way of holding our elected representatives accountable, and registering our approval or disapproval at the polls on election day. Let's look at one example--education. About 1950 funding of grade schools and high schools began to shift to the state with healthy increases also in federal grants. Local school districts in 1950 were putting up 66 percent of the money, with state and federal making up the other 34 percent. By 1976--the last year for which we have the figures--local government was not carrying two-thirds of the load--it wasn't even paying half. State and federal governments paid 52 percent of school costs and local government paid 48 per cent. At first glance you might say that's great for the local community--until you realize we, the same old taxpayers, are putting up the entire 100 per cent--just funneling it through different tax collectors. And, the higher you go in government the greater the overhead. Now what has this change meant to us? Well for one thing our locally elected school boards don't have as much to say about content of textbooks, curriculum and methods of teaching as they once did. If we have any complaints we'll have to track down some faceless bureaucrats at the state or national level. Then there is the matter of cost. Since 1950, the total cost has gone from six billion dollars to 70 billion dollars. Ah! But you say there has been an increase in the number of students, plus inflation. True. But in constant dollars (adjusted for inflation) the per-student cost is three times what it was before we started getting so much state and federal help. I'll tell you more about this on the next broadcast. This is Ronald Reagan. Thanks for listening. |
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