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The reason Freepers are more interested in national issues rather than local ones is that they are more interesting to talk about. Also, they are issues we can talk about together. It's hard to get Freepers in Michigan excited about a bond issue in Arizona.

National issues are also hyped more by the conservative media. Rush is hardly going to be successful in keeping his national audience excited if he spends three hours on a local mayor's race in Eugene, Oregon.

Here in California the conservatives ceded local control to the state through the enactment of Prop 13. We're so damned proud that that's the one good proposition we got through that didn't get overturned by the courts. But all it really did was move tax policy from cities to the state where they have proceeded to undermine tax policy and every other policy imaginable.

Carter created the monstrosity called the Dept. of Education, and even though Republicans claim that they want educational matters determined at the local level, every time a Republican gets into office he expands the size and mandate of that worthless and dangerous department; No Child Left Behind, etc.

All this attention on national issues over which we have little control seems a useless waste of resources. Better to come up with interesting solutions, vote them in at the local level, and then see if they can be expanded statewide and then nationally.

The top-down approach does not seem to be working. George H. W. Bush's Thousand Points of Light may be a better strategy long term.