One of the problems with policy is that people are often for something in the abstract. You can see this in a variety of polls about policy issues.
It is when you move from the abstract to thge concrete that people develop qualms.
It is going to cost THAT much? It is going to take THAT long? You want me to WHAT?
There is a lot of stuff that would get done if it was painless, free, and required no sacrifice on the part of the electorate.
We have a hodgepodge mess of usually crappy government because of overlapping functions and unwillingness to pay, coupled with a major political party that absolutely hates government unless they get to use it to force people to have babies or not be gay.
We have a population that, by and large, thinks taxation is theft... and that doesn't actually really understand what government does or how, or what the requirements for a functioning civilization are.
Back in the day I lived in western PA, not too far from Pittsburgh. Every township had its own little police force (usually poorly trained and paid). I am not sure what those people did most of the time, TBH, other than traffic stops.
Cities had police forces, if you lived in one (I did not).
We also had state police. State police were actual police--in PA at that time they were sort of the equivalent of the FBI on the federal level. They handled enforcement on the highways and state roads, did investigations for the local cops on major crimes. There were also county sheriff departments but they mostly did... IDK what they did TBH.
One of the problems with policy is that people are often for something in the abstract. You can see this in a variety of polls about policy issues.
It is when you move from the abstract to thge concrete that people develop qualms.
It is going to cost THAT much? It is going to take THAT long? You want me to WHAT?
There is a lot of stuff that would get done if it was painless, free, and required no sacrifice on the part of the electorate.
We have a hodgepodge mess of usually crappy government because of overlapping functions and unwillingness to pay, coupled with a major political party that absolutely hates government unless they get to use it to force people to have babies or not be gay.
We have a population that, by and large, thinks taxation is theft... and that doesn't actually really understand what government does or how, or what the requirements for a functioning civilization are.
Back in the day I lived in western PA, not too far from Pittsburgh. Every township had its own little police force (usually poorly trained and paid). I am not sure what those people did most of the time, TBH, other than traffic stops.
Cities had police forces, if you lived in one (I did not).
We also had state police. State police were actual police--in PA at that time they were sort of the equivalent of the FBI on the federal level. They handled enforcement on the highways and state roads, did investigations for the local cops on major crimes. There were also county sheriff departments but they mostly did... IDK what they did TBH.
Lots of chiefs and jurisdictions.