Canoerebel
Posts: 21100
Joined: 12/14/2002 From: Northwestern Georgia, USA Status: offline
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Georgia counties and cities were free to impose their own measures deeply into March. Many or most did. The state came along late in March, mainly due to the fact that the local governments had a good handle on things. The statewide measures were basically the same that had already existed for about three weeks. We discussed this progression in here at deep, unharmonious length. At least three forumites (one US, two UK) were adamant that leaving things to local jurisdictions in the US was a very, very, very bad thing. I countered that "pushing the power down" to the local level, whenever possible, is a good thing. I think this resulted from a deep divide. Some people are comfortable with big government; others prefer small government. Some people want national decisions, some want local. Some want national healthcare, others prefer private (or as private as possible). Much later (about a week ago) I wondered aloud in this thread if the local decision-making might have been one reason that Georgians haven't engaged in the kinds of protests seen in so many states. When it's your neighbor making decisions, perhaps one doesn't feel powerless. Also, the precautions seemed sensible and most everyone was aboard.
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