* Different elected bodies share different responsibilities and powers with overlapping jurisdiction
* States have their own constitutional authority and are semi-sovereign; all powers not delegated to the federal gov’t are delegated to the states
* Fed gov’t: nat’l defense, universal pension/elderly healthcare, sends $ to states, unbalanced budget ok
* State gov’t: administer welfare programs, work w/local gov’t to run K-12 schools and higher edu, prison system, run elections, constrained by balanced budget
* Both: tax, borrow money, charter banks, regulate property
* Each state typically has a mini-federal gov’t that can charter local gov’ts
* Increasingly think of local elections in terms of national issues, even though jurisdictions are separate → nationalization of politics
* Decreased accountability - feeling that one has to stay with elected officials of one’s party, even if that party isn’t addressing the problems
* Cause: Fed gov’t gets more media attention that local gov’t
* Cause: Local and federal politics more aligned with the decline of the Southern Democrats