I do not buy it either. Not at all. I'm old enough to recall the so-called Great Depression and the US was several orders of magnitude more poor than we are today. There was a bit more corruption at lower levels but less at higher levels and the national trust factor reflected that. People did more for themselves -- government also had little money -- and cooperation at all levels was less grudging. I have watched this slowly change through the intervening decades and most corruption and malfeasance has been modified, often but not always for the better, as more wealth accrued to the system.
IMO cooperation between the levels of government today is generally only fair. While it is somewhat facilitated by the process of Federal grants and transfers of money to states and localities, it is impeded -- harmed, even -- by the Federal penchant for excessive interference and ill-thought out laws and regulations. The arrogance of Federal agencies in dealing with other entities is real, palpable and is, I think, due to patronizing engendered by the fact that they have the power of those transfers. Individually or en masse, the wealthy tend to look down their noses at the proles.
I suspect a shift in tax policy to more correctly place tax authority at the point of need -- education and medical care are State, not Federal responsibilities would be helpful in that regard. Such an effort would also curtail the elements of corruption induced by excessive amounts of money that can be obtained from the Feds.Good question and something to ponder.And why is guvmint expected to be corrupt in a society that is not so corrupt in everyday life? Does that mistrust in guvmint fuel corruption or reflect a healthy aversion to corruption?...
I wonder if the explosion of media outlets by sheer volume and which have to raise issues to garner attention has not caused an attack dog mentality on the part of that media and caused them to be aggressive to the point where they overstate issue and thus, deliberately or inadvertently, sow distrust?
I think your point on low level (city and county) and high level (federal) corruption may be explained by the visibility factor. The local issues are always readily apparent to everyone while the federal level is heavily if usually poorly covered by the national media and punditocracy -- the equally human State level is generally noted only by political junkies and those close to particular issues; State government news and event coverage in the dozen or so states in which I've lived as an adult is generally poor. My perception mirrors yours, that it was worse in the 19th century and my belief is that it was worse in the 1940s and 50s than it now is as I wrote above...
We are, I believe, improving -- if only slowly. People are people, after all.
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