Many times I have found myself agreeing with the concern expressed about empowering communities, that doing so will give rise to mob rule and expressions of prejudice and other horrible effects that appear to be largely avoided by national government and the current settlement.
Why does one accede to this anxiety ? The most obvious rebuttal of it is that local politics ought to be the arena of conscientious and educated people capable of taking local affairs seriously, and bring to them an informed awareness and a local understanding.
The capable treat the local arena as a desert. The arena has not disappeared but is not much more than an echo chamber for controversy. There is a lot of titillation of prejudice.
The local scene is handled as if its self-importance must be flattered whilst it is whipped into line by central government's hard line on cash disbursements. Local government does its work by convincing central government rather than convincing us.
Why does one accede to this anxiety ? The most obvious rebuttal of it is that local politics ought to be the arena of conscientious and educated people capable of taking local affairs seriously, and bring to them an informed awareness and a local understanding.
The capable treat the local arena as a desert. The arena has not disappeared but is not much more than an echo chamber for controversy. There is a lot of titillation of prejudice.
The local scene is handled as if its self-importance must be flattered whilst it is whipped into line by central government's hard line on cash disbursements. Local government does its work by convincing central government rather than convincing us.
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