State Government

[Actual God]

As far as I can tell, the responsibilities of state government include:

- providing help for the poor
- attracting business to the state
- maintaining some roads and police
- maintaining some parks
- health care sometimes
- creating education standards and lowering the cost of higher education

What does state government do well? What are some examples, maybe from your home state, of successful state government initiatives?

Some will be tempted to respond "lol governmentaments" to indicate the foolishness of the idea of government doing anything right - I'm eager to hear about about specific failed policies or cases of neglect, not " bla bla jackbooted thuggery," even though I'm sympathetic.

I am from Michigan. There is a silly law on the books that says the budget has to be balanced. There is a democratic governor and a republican-controlled congress, and they are constantly in gridlock. It seems like higher education costs are very low here...

[Taso]

Road repair in NY got better when Pataki made them do it only in the middle of the night. By road repair, I mean to say traffic conditions.

[NickMPK]

Police, court systems, and prisons are also a pretty fundamental responsibility of state government, shared to various extents with local governments, and to a much lesser degree, the federal government.

I used to work for the state government of Maryland, and our budget looked something like this:

45% Education (both higher ed and supplemental funding of local school districts)
25% Health Care
10% Public Safety (police & prisons)
20% Other stuff

[Copernicus]

Having the privilege of living in NJ and Ca, I can tell you that two state governments are more fubar than the Federal government.

[One Outer]

I think your home state does do a really good job on higher educatin, fwiw.

I live in Minnesota. Natives generally think of the government here as being good at pretty much everything it does. I feel it's important to point out that what the government does well is entirely dependent on who's running it. We are a great example with the 35W bridge collapse. Transportation funding here comes mostly from the gas tax. We've had Republican governors (except for Jesse Ventura) since 1988 and they have all shortchanged transportation spending because of their refusal to use the gas tax appropriately. 2+2=4 [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

Other things we do well:

K-12 education- we come in second only to Massachusetts the las time I checked

higher education- the state college system is phenomenal, highlighted by the U, and state grants to private college students are pretty generous

health care- Minnesota has the lowest rate of uninsured in the nation. We have a fantastic program here called MinnesotaCare that is designed to give low cost insurance to people who can't afford it or get it through their job. I was a participant in MinnesotaCare for three years. Monthly premium was $120 for a family of four, no copays or out of pocket expenses. Full dental and vision. Never saw a bill, never had a problem, always got taken care of. Interestingly, this program was actually created by a Republican governor. It is also extremely efficient (I did my senior thesis in college on MinnesotaCare funding).

Environment and parks- out DNR does a great job. Clean water and air. It's almost impossible to live in the Twin Cities metro and not be within walking distance of a public park.

Stuff we're not very good at:

Roads- Winter is harsh on the roads. We spend all summer, every year, trying to fix them and they still suck. That was my experience in Michigan, too.

Affordable housing- this has become a problem in Minneapolis and Saint Paul in the last ten years. The state decided to let the cities deal with it. Minneapolis has done a horrible job; Saint Paul a little better, but the state really needs to step in.

Some say that the business climate here is bad because of the taxes. It is true that we are a high tax, high service state, but the tax climate doesn't seem to deter people. Companies seem to be attracted to our highly educated workforce more than they're repelled by our taxes. Minnesotans enjoy a higher than average standard of living.

[AlexM]

[ QUOTE ]
As far as I can tell, the responsibilities of state government include:

- providing help for the poor
- attracting business to the state
- maintaining some roads and police
- maintaining some parks
- health care sometimes
- creating education standards and lowering the cost of higher education
- 95% of what the federal government is doing

[/ QUOTE ]

[Actual God]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
As far as I can tell, the responsibilities of state government include:

- providing help for the poor
- attracting business to the state
- maintaining some roads and police
- maintaining some parks
- health care sometimes
- creating education standards and lowering the cost of higher education
- 95% of what the federal government is doing

[/ QUOTE ]

[/ QUOTE ]

not sure i understand the thrust of the 95% line.

[bobman0330]

I honestly don't remember ever having a positive impression of state government. They seem to be much like the federal government except more corrupt and less competent.

[Actual God]

govt is retarded. who visits this website?

http://www.michigan.gov/datingviolence