How Little Politics Influences Big Politics

We've all heard how "top of the ticket" (President, Governor, etc.) influences the "down ticket" (State Legislature, County Government, Etc.) races.  It's easy to understand, uninformed voters look for the party at the top of the ticket, or the person who inspires them running for the larger office, and as a result they vote for people of the same party all the way down.

That's not always the case however anymore.  With so much gridlock at the state and national levels, more and more policy is being enacted at the local level.  And with good reason - There is less resistance there.

Part of the reason there is so much legislative gridlock at the national level is because there is so much research and vetting required to make national policy that by the time an issue is ready to debated, much of it has been watered down.  And that is before the horsetrading of the legislature steps in to muck it up further.

On the local level however that vetting process has a much less rigorous review, and there is much less to trade.

As a result, policies at the local level are passing much more quickly than the state and national level.  Just take a look at the most recent hot-topic issues - the sharing economy:

Uber has found more success and challenges city by city than state by state.
AirBnB is being challenged with local policies differing city by city.

Or look at how established industries are being affected:

Development and construction are finding more success with local negotiations than reforming state regulations
Natural Resources find it easier to get easements locally than working with the natural resources regulators

Or look at how regulation is affecting industries such as supplements

More legislation on the use, sale and distribution of synthetic supplements is occurring at the local and state levels than at the national level because of the backlog of reviews at the FDA.

As such local politicians are being seen as more effective in dealing with complex issues that higher levels of government are neglecting.  As such, they are influencing policy and debates at the higher levels, and this is a trend that will likely lead to lower level government elected officials being able to supplant those governing above them as they get more exposure on these key issues.