what are pros and cons of reducing levels of government

[Ang]

here in australia we have  3 levels of government

1. council
2.state
3. federal

i've always been of the belief that we have to many levels of government and could do away with councils and save a bucket load of money to be used on worthwhile projects
interested in any opinions.

[jbeany]

Around here - we use the term "local" government for councils.  It seems to me that the locals are the only ones doing any real work.  The Fed and State make decrees and the locals try to figure out how to make something out of them that might actually work....   

[Willis]

Originally, our system was similar in that "local" jurisdictions had much more influence at the state level and the states had a lot more influence at the federal level. Our Constitution was written to create a "bottom up" governmental structure.

For too many reasons to even summarize here, we had a great Civil War between 1861-1865 (625,000+ war dead) and since then the structure has been just the opposite. That is, the Federal government took most of the power and now it flows from top to bottom.

Personally, I think the USA has been on a downward death spiral since that time. We had a chance to turn things around about 100 years ago, but the "Progressives" (Presidents Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson in particular) started us down the road to "Empire." The last few decades are demonstrating once again how difficult it is for any empire to exist long term.