THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
An Online Journal of Political Commentary & Analysis
Volume VI, Issue # 72, April 9, 2004
Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
Government Committed to & Acting in Accord with Conservative Principles
Ensures a Nation's Strength, Progress, & Prosperity
WHY STUDY LOCAL GOVERNMENT: A PRIMER
By Ken Masugi
FULL STORY:
One scholarly purpose of the Claremont Institute's Center for Local Government is the revival of the serious study of local government.
The Spring, 2004, issue of the lively political science journal, Perspectives on Political Science, features a symposium of diverse
voices on how the study of local government illuminates broader issues in the study of politics. In soliciting these pieces, I sought
scholarship that might turn the attention of specialists in local government to profound themes of political philosophy and turn those
with a love of those abiding issues to the enduring significance of local institutions.
Our interest in local government largely derives from the triumph of Progressivism. This victory manifests itself most notably in the
absence of the Declaration of Independence from sophisticated political discourse. In banishing the American Founders' understanding
of natural rights from national discussion, Progressivism sought to reform state and local governments. The council-manager form of
local government, for example, allows the hiring of university-educated experts as the true chief executives of a city or locality, fosters
the dependence of local decision-makers on appointed boards, and encourages local governments to exercise eminent domain powers,
permitting seizure of private property for transference to other owners.
The overall effect of these reforms has been to distance government from the opinions and interests of the ordinary citizen. Political
power has shifted away from ordinary citizens to typically Leftist elites. To succeed in saving limited government, Progressivism and
its ideological and institutional legacies require a reexamination of American local government in order to pave the way for a return to
natural rights and limited government.
In this symposium, four unconventional political scientists pose diverse responses to the crisis caused by Progressivism. They
represent various sub-disciplines of politics -- American politics, comparative politics, political economy, and public finance.
Stephen Elkin, of the University of Maryland, wonders whether the large, commercial republic has undermined public spiritedness.
That public spiritedness is best refined through the experience of local politics and local experiences in business, school, and
recreation.
In his impressive survey of local government practices throughout the Western world, Filippo Sabetti, who teaches politics at
McGill University, would restore local government as the "starting point of constitutionalism and, correlatively, of
self-governance." Throughout the history of the West, local government has served to preempt the rise of bureaucracies.
Brian P. Janiskee, who, with me, is co-author of Democracy in California, reconsiders the Jeffersonian emphasis on a
ward-republic system of local government. In noting the "restlessness … at the heart of our multi-layered federal regime," he
contends that "[i]n matters of local government in America, revolution and federalism are two sides of the same coin."
Public finance expert Steven Frates, of the Rose Institute of Claremont McKenna College, argues for quantifying government
expenditures in meaningful terms to voters. Self-government requires such easily accessible information about the costs of
government programs.
Together, these essays constitute a primer on restoring self-government in light of the Progressive revolution of a century ago.
As indicated, the scope of such a counter-revolution is vast. Here is the opportunity to begin.
A limited number of the Spring, 2004, issue of Perspectives on Political Science containing this symposium are available
from the Claremont Institute for Statesmanship and Political Philosophy. Contact Ami Naramor or (909) 621-6825 to place orders.
LINKS TO RELATED TOPICS:
American Politics & Local Self-Government
U.S. Constitutional Law & Political Philosophy
Liberalism Versus Conservatism in American Politics
Liberals, Statists, Socialists, & Other Leftists
Ken Masugi is Director of the Claremont Institute's Center for Local Government, and is an associate editor of the Claremont
Review of Books. He is the co-author of Democracy in California: Politics and Government in the Golden State.
The foregoing article by Ken Masugi was originally published in the April 7, 2004, issue of Precepts, a publication
of the Claremont Institute for the Study of Statesmanship and Political Philosophy. The Claremont Institute, a Conservative political,
cultural, and educational organization in the U.S.A., describes its central purpose as the mission "to restore the principles of the
American Founding to their rightful, preeminent authority in our national life." Committed to American constitutionalism and
republicanism as well as representative democracy, the Institute's mission statement declares: "America's Founders endowed our
Republic with sound principles and a framework for governing that is unmatched in the history of mankind. The prosperity and
freedom of America can only be made secure if they are guided by a return to these basic principles as our country enters the 21st.
century."
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Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
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