You’ve heard it before. Americans are deeply unhappy with Washington, DC. Sixty-five percent say the country is on the wrong track. Confidence in institutions is near all-time lows. Congress’s approval rating is terrible, and the two major presidential candidates are viewed more negatively than any other mainstream presidential candidates in recent memory. Only nineteen percent of the public trust the government to do the right thing all or most of the time.
Washington’s dysfunction—what is probably driving these perceptions—extends to all three branches of the federal government. Congress is in a near-permanent state of gridlock. The president uses his executive authority wherever possible, but often with little practical impact. Even regulatory agencies are facing what Brookings Institution scholar Philip Wallach has dubbed a legitimacy crisis of the administrative state, as the public grows more skeptical of leaving the most important policymaking decisions to insulated and unelected regulators.
The courts are in little better shape. Since the death of Justice Antonin Scalia, the Supreme Court has been hobbled without its ninth member. Even before this development, there was a perception building that politics too often enters the Court’s decisions, no doubt contributing to the gradual increase in the Supreme Court’s disapproval rating over time.
On a brighter note, in contrast to this crisis of legitimacy at the federal level, polling data suggests that Americans still generally trust their state and local governments. The cop on the beat, the garbage man, and the postal worker, are still trusted symbols of everyday American life. Furthermore, the social divisions that make dramatic change at the federal level difficult (i.e. red state versus blue state stuff) actually make it easier to get things done in the states.
Where governorships and state legislatures are dominated by a single party, there are opportunities to advance creative policy solutions, allowing the states to fulfill their roles as laboratories of democracy. Policy reforms in the states, where successful, can lay the groundwork for future changes at the federal level, perhaps restoring badly-needed trust in our ailing institutions.
There are a many reasons to be cynical about where the country is headed, and to doubt whether our leaders are capable of addressing our looming challenges. However, the states should not be made complacent by this state of affairs. They should view Washington’s dysfunction as an opportunity and not a reason for despair. Now is an opportune moment to step up and demonstrate what it means to govern. Perhaps…just perhaps… our friends in Washington might pay attention and learn something.