Any time you hear claims about American government, a sanity-inducing response is to ask whether they also are true of state and local governments.  Here is an excerpt from my latest piece at The Free Press:

First, in people’s daily lives, they typically interact with their state and local governments more than with the feds. And if you look at what state and local governments do, most of it is driven by voter demand, and I do not mean billionaire or oligarchic voters.

Most state and local government spending goes toward schools, roads, and increasingly, Medicaid. None of those reflect the agendas of most billionaires. For example, Medicaid dollars flow particularly to lower-income recipients. Hospitals and doctors receive income from this program, but reimbursement rates are relatively low, and many of the best doctors do not accept Medicaid patients and don’t make a living from the program.

Somehow the oligarchy saw fit to leave these expenditures alone.  Looking at the state and local level also suggests that America — with some notable exceptions — is better governed than before.