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American Local Government

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We all embark to choose the governing body for our municipality. This choice will affect the everyday livelihood of every generation represented in its population as well as future generations. We must review the historical facts and be attentive to historical patterns that repeat. I believe if you have an open mind, you can make correct choices, when establishing the type of governing body for your municipality. This is important for not only your wellbeing, but also for the rest of the community. Keep in mind, all together we call this “our home”. The emergence of American local government coincided with the birth of American federal government under the United States Constitution in 1789. Even though American city government already existed …show more content…

However, a different perspective existed in local government. Local governments leaned toward ideas captured in Tocqueville’s classic work: Tocqueville 2000. His book was originally published in 1835 and lauds the American local government system for its democratic values, but encourages towns to embody “local-self-government.” Thus, Tocqueville 2000 considers local government the foundation of all free republican government and the protection of the minority rights, regardless of their political party. After recognizing the critical role of local government in the US administrative state, Griffith and Adrian 1938 documents the emergence and evolution of early local governments. Based on the previous work, Adrian 1987 explains the transformation of local governments took place from 1920 to 1945. (“Retrieved from …show more content…

Mayor-council governments generally feature an elected executive officer called a mayor and an elected legislative body. The elected legislated body is most often known as the city council. Today, most if not all, municipalities exemplify this form of governing. In a mayor-council government, the mayor and city council work together to balance and pass a budget, draft and enforce legislation, oversee city departments and appoint departmental heads. But the dynamics of how the mayor and city council work together depend on the type of mayor-council government that a city uses. (“Https://ballotpedia.org/Mayor-council government”) One of the major downfalls of this type of governing is the use of power and control. This effectiveness of Mayor -council government is dependent on its strength as a team. Our future should not be obliged to not take this

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