According to a new study, Pennsylvania’s penchant for local government is really hurting the state. Any article that has something like this in it:
Recent studies say the state’s fragmented governmental structure and near-total absence of regional planning holds back economic progress, crippling older communities and allowing unchecked development despite nearly $1 billion in new funding aimed at community revitalization and open-space preservation.
is automatically suspect.  I read it thusly: the decentralization of state power makes it really hard for those of us who would like to impose our own personal tastes and preferences on the rest of humanity. We really need to take control of these matters at the state level, so that we can dictate to your locally elected leaders just how wrong you are.
Piss on that, I say.
I believe you have read it correctly,and show the proper amount of respect.
Just to play devil’s advocate here, so you like the state’s decentralization of things like taxes, school districts, zoning regulations, transportation, and other ordinances like no public smoking, etc….but now what if one town wanted to ban handguns, it would be bad, right?
An aside, I know that it’s a part of the PA constitution that prevents local pre-emption of firearms laws, but still, the point I’m trying to make is that centralization can work for some things. Where the lines are drawn is the sticky wicket.
I believe in decentralization of power, and centralized protection of rights. That’s basically what it boils down to. It’s appropriate for state government to protect my rights against encroachment of local government, and appropriate for federal government to protect my rights from the encroachment of either. Rights don’t know political boundaries, governmental powers ought to.
Your last comment is one of the most intelligent I have ever read.