The truth is local

It’s been a long stretch of a journey of experiments that has led up to localisim. In organizing democratic society, early sentiments trended towards conservatism. It was a logical conclusion. Conservative leaders tended to be more effective and pragmatic and the trend flowed into greater society. Conservatism is still a great and effective way to live and organize. Overtime, sentiments moved towards populism. As ideologies and paradigms that were not inherently conservative sought to find means of expression, populism gained traction. Although it was not populism itself as much as other non-conservative attitudes that drove it. That's because populism was in actuality a combination of many kinds of ideas. It's effectiveness as an accepted paradigm was very short-lived.

Today, public life is quietly but confidently trending towards localism. Localism is the belief that power should be wielded as much as possible at the neighborhood, city and state levels. Localism is thriving. This is because, the truth is local, and has always been. The truth, better yet the reality, that power should be concentrated in the neighborhood rather than far out there, as in Federal Government or the great heights of diplomacy is proving to be far more effective than either conservatism or populism. Although they had some success their effects have proven to be limited, because the truth is local. When power resides in the hands of truth, we are definitely safe. Safe is a good place to be. It is in the environment nurtured by safety and trust that ideas emerge and eventually thrives.

When localism is gotten right it leads to a reviving of towns, villages and municipalities and this happens as a result of the local governing authority that is established. This does not invalidate the State, actually it gives credence to it. The role of the State in an effective society and economy is inevitable. We want to use the economy to understand things because wealth is an excellent method of measurement. Wealth, and even common-wealth makes for excellent points of agreement. Agreements are important because through them it’s quick and easy to identify what a society values. Once these values are empowered, automation is a natural consequence. With automation in place wealth is generated and life is nurtured with less effort and little to no resistance. It is in local governing areas that these agreements or mutual understanding can more easily be captured. This is how cities have thrived and prospered.

As human societies evolve and cities take on a more significant and accepted role, local governing areas will become excellent incubators and a means of measurement of human welfare. Local governments have benefits that are easily overlooked, that’s because general human society trends towards the feeling that bigger is better. We are taught and trained to seek for more and not less. In a desire to secure improved comfort many gaps are created and most of them go unnoticed.

But small can also be effective, and ignoring what appears small is failing to realize that what is 'big' is a sum total of the small. It is the small, first. When local governing areas are ignored crime increases without being noticed. Those without access to fundamentals increase in number significantly. Take homelessness as an example. Homeless numbers in an area without any aspect of consideration given to that specific locality as to why and what trends caused that increase drastically enough to matter will always lead in the wrong direction. This is currently the case in many major American cities.

Other aspects of human activity and life, and many more issues can be effectively resolved through local governments as subsequent papers will point to. LGA’s have the capacity to foster authentic accountability, the acknowledgement of present reality, offer a humanistic touch and emotional acknowledgement, direct observation and accurate data collection, welfare management, and even culture. The vast potential of wealth waiting to be tapped at the local level is limitless. We only need to look through the window or open the door and make a connection.