I’m not sure state government is the problem or solution.

The early 1900’s Progressive Movement succeeded in breaking the Robber Barrons’ grip on power by dividing governing powers among smaller entities called districts – including school districts, water districts, community service districts etc. Today, there are 3,143 county governments, 19,000 incorporated cities, 16,800 school districts and a whopping 39,262 “special districts” (e.g. water districts, utility districts, community service districts, sewage, library, cemetery districts, etc.).

Today, 78,205 separate local government entities are unmitigable chaos – not solution.

We humans tend to forget that change is the only constant. Simply put, I think the early 1900’s solution has become the problem. In addition to the same problems that people faced in the early 1900s (concentrated power, income inequality and massive political corruption) we are facing new challenges (including a severe housing shortage, dangerous threats to our food and water supplies, climate change, a global economy, a crumbling education system and an increasingly divided population).

Clearly, at least to me, we need a new solution. In my mind, our biggest threat is that we are a divided people. In fact, our division is the only thing everyone agrees with.

Regional government offers to cross this divide by weaving 78,205 separate local government entities into an inter-connected whole (under the umbrella of regional government). Interestingly enough, regional government would strengthen local control – not reduce it.

Everyone, without exception, depends on food to eat, water to drink, air to breathe and land to stand on – right? Take just one of those things away, and we die. Corporations, factories, businesses, bankers and politicians can – and do – control our food, water, air and land – but they cannot produce it – right? On land, climate, flora, fauna and natural forces can produce the things we need to survive.

Right now, governance is defined by political territories (e.g. state borders, county lines, city boundaries, congressional districts, school districts, water districts, etc.). Regional government is defined by geographical factors – not politics.

In a business sense, regional government offers to manage regions like outdoor factories that produce healthy food, clean air, fresh water and good land for the people who live in those regions.

Of course, we would argue ourselves silly over such things as rivers. The Mississippi River, for example, runs through 10 states, which happens to be the reason its polluted and drying up. Managing – or governing – the Mississippi River as a region would go a long way towards improving its health and sustainability. Regional government would also bring people in ten different states together to protect and conserve their common resource.

Regional government offers to elevate food, water, land and air “above” petty politics, culture wars, and territorialism. It also levels the playing field between the uber-rich and everybody else, by prioritizing common interests, rather than special interests – and prioritizing “health” rather than wealth.

Obviously, I’m a fan of regional government concepts.