Traditional powers of public safety, health, and welfare are well-recognized, and local governments provide direct service in these areas consistent with national policy. Take garbage, for example. Trash is collected under appropriate franchise or delegated powers of local government and is hauled regionally to regulated trash sites under state and federal mandates. From a regulatory perspective, telecommunications regulation should not function in a manner dramatically different from trash disposal. Since current Congressional thought appears to postulate that most daytime TV is trash, I suppose this analogy is quite apt.
Local governments implement federal and state policy.
We're the place that trickle-down economics trickles down to. We're the ones who serve food to the hungry, shelter the homeless, and hospitalize the indigent, while at the same time fighting shrinking tax bases and scrapping for federal grant money to try to eke out a few more services. On a less dramatic note, we're the ones who find out why some utility workers left the fence open and let out the dog, stepped on the pansies, and left wires dangling too close to the driveway. In most cases, I m fortunate to be able to advocate for consumers and get their problems resolved. Because I work for local government, I can be found more easily than other governmental representatives, and my proximal advantage should be exploited in a harmonized telecommunications regulatory model.