Whether Elitist or Pluralist Theory Explains Politics in Tennessee - Essay Example

This success of black mayors due to their problem-solving nature called for de-racialization and therefore called for improved job performance by mayors (Bowman and Kearney, 310). Local government in such areas has become entrepreneurial and call for new ideas and solution. One example is CCI’s initiative in a scholarship program in Tennessee (Bowman and Kearney, 322). So the two theories do not explain the politics in Tennessee.

2. When, if ever, do you think it is reasonable for a local government to exercise a ‘taking’? Explain. Ans: Taking is a government action when it assumes ownership of someone’s property in the domain of public purpose. Here the definition of public purpose is important. If the government is taking away the land for building up social goods like labor-intensive industries, and utility places like libraries, schools, colleges, etc., then I think taking is reasonable as these activities lead to employment generation and creates welfare (Bowman and Kearney, 307).

Ans: Dillon’s law states that local governments exercise only those powers which are granted by the state government. The state government has more power than the local government but the trend has been shifting towards increased state support and empowerment of localities. Localities have powers to restructure themselves, impose new taxes, etc, State government dominates decision-making for localities by regulating their finance, setting qualification criteria for local employees, by meetings and mandating financial disclosure, etc (Bowman and Kearney, 325-326).

4. Should sprawl be regulated, and, if so, how? Ans: Yes sprawl should be regulated because it leads to rapid land consumption and heavy dependence on development. It is resource intensive and costly. The cost of providing services like public education rises manifold times for the government. To check sprawl impact fees can be levied on new development like houses and the city should have the proper authority to levy the fee. This will offset some costs of providing public service. Greenbelts should be established as they will limit the area for development (Bowman and Kearney, 333).5

Ans: Yes I would support city-county consolidation as it will help in tackling stubborn policy programs like pollution control in two cities which now becomes a collective problem after consolidation.