Social policies at the state level have significant impact on quality of life to the people of that state.
Because of U.S. Supreme Court rulings of Citizens United that Corporations are people, voting for congressional representatives is not an effective organizing strategy. It may be that policy is more efficiently and effectively developed and sustained at the state and not the federal level.
As you know, states are quite different with their laws and regulations governing all kinds of health, educational and human services. Thom Hartmann has written articulately about the significant differences in quality of life between Red and Blue states which makes evident the idea that policies at state levels make huge differences.
In raising this topic I do not intend to get into polarized party politics but rather that shared values make huge differences when they inform policy formation, implementation, and outcomes. We have been encouraged in the social and psychological sciences to engage in "evidence based practices" based on the observation that some practices get better outcomes than others. All too often the dots are not connected.
There are so many examples of how different social policies affect state populations with most glaring being the Dodd’s decision and a woman's access to reproductive health care in her state. There are some states where women have the freedom to make their own decisions about their health care and some where the state interfere with her freedom and the freedom of health care providers. This same freedom applies to psychotherapists where in some states psychotherapists are free to discuss health care options with women and some where it has been criminalized.
As an aside a good fictional portrayal of this issue in Massachusetts is Mercy Street by Jennifer Haigh.
Tip O'Neil, when he was speaker of the house, is often quoted as saying, "All politics is local."
The policies of the state you live in have a tremendous impact on the people of that state and indicators of quality of life often show startling differences. Do you know where your state ranks on key quality of life indicators?
