The League

Meanwhile, at Forbes

by Erik Kain · August 4, 2011

Erik Kain

Erik writes about video games at Forbes and politics at Mother Jones. He's the contributor of The League though he hasn't written much here lately. He can be found occasionally composing 140 character cultural analysis on Twitter.

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rj says:

August 4, 2011 at 2:56 pm

How do you square your nostalgic localism with the fact that it’s the petty tyrants of local government (including the cops) who are by far more capricious and personally vindictive?Report
- E.D. Kain in reply to rj says:
  
  August 4, 2011 at 2:58 pm
  
  Exactly.
  
  By which I mean, that’s why I’m only a half-assed localist. But I do think localism requires a push for limited and honest/transparent government.Report
  - rj in reply to E.D. Kain says:
    
    August 4, 2011 at 3:14 pm
    
    But the smaller the entity, the worse it gets, since you’re getting up in the business of an individual, not the files of some big entity. I’d much rather make a FOIA request and wrangle for months or years to get my FBI file than videotape a cop arrest some guy on my block…It’s easier on my face and bones.
    
    What I don’t get is why the anti-gov types are going after the feds when the real oppression happens locally.Report
    - Trumwill in reply to rj says:
      
      August 4, 2011 at 7:43 pm
      
      With the smaller entities, you have a much wider array of good and ill. Sometimes smaller entities are worse than larger ones, but often they’re a lot better. When something is wrong on the local level, however, it’s (a) not as difficult to influence the government and enact change, and (b) it’s easier to leave when things get out of hand.
      
      For my part, I’m not a strictly local guy. I prefer a balance between local, state, and federal governments that’s somewhat more generous to the former than the latter than the status quo, but I do believe that federal governments can provide a check on more local governments.Report