Voting by foot works quite well

Did you know that the voters of San Francisco will decide this fall whether the city will set up its own municipal bank? Or that the state of Illinois is setting up a state-funded program of food aid for people who lose access to federally funded nutrition assistance because they don’t meet the work requirement? Or that the socialist mayor of Seattle, Kate Wilson, urged her constituents to boycott one of the city’s homegrown businesses, Starbucks? Or that, under the leadership of socialist mayor Zohran Mamdani, the city of New York has just prohibited rent increases for nearly a million apartments?

Unless you live in these places — in which case, thanks for reading this Carolina columnist! — or nerd out on public policy, you’ve probably heard little or nothing about these developments. They are unlikely ever to affect you or your family.

When our country’s founders began setting up independent governments and writing new constitutions 250 years ago, they got many things right. They assigned legislative, executive, and judicial responsibilities to separate branches rather than concentrating too much power in a small cabal or single person. Treating the people as the ultimate sovereign instead of as subjects of a monarch claiming divine authority, they sought to safeguard individual liberty not only by constitutional design but also by bills of rights enforceable in court. And rather than treating the national government as the primary wielder of coercive power, they assigned only limited duties to Congress and the president while leaving states and localities with most of the responsibility for day-to-day governance.

These were wise decisions. They limited the stakes of any given election, for example, which allowed Americans to go about their daily lives without constant fear and reduced both the tenures and potential damage of corrupt politicians. Our structure also allows folks with vastly different views and preferences to arrange their personal and professional lives accordingly.

That is to say, it allowed — and continues to allow — Americans to vote in three different ways. Yes, we cast ballots in occasional elections for federal, state, and local offices as well as to settle certain financial, legal, and constitutional matters through direct democracy.

Even more frequently, we can vote with our time and resources. We purchase specific goods or services from specific vendors, foregoing others. We read, watch, or listen to some news, information, and entertainment while tuning others out. We support some institutions, causes, and candidates for office while ignoring or opposing others.

The third way we vote — the costliest way, actually, but often the most efficacious — is with our feet. If you don’t like key characteristics of your community, including how it is governed, you and your family can move somewhere else. Americans have been a footloose people for centuries. Even today, millions of people relocate every year from one neighborhood, city, or state to another.

In 2025, more Americans relocated to North Carolina (+84,100) than to any other state in the union. I think that’s a testament to our attractive mix of natural and human resources, comparatively robust economy, and generally pro-growth, pro-liberty policy choices. Perhaps you’d ascribe the influx to something else, or be more prone to complain about it rather than celebrate it. To each his own.

But perhaps we can all agree that the federalist principle of decentralization deserves celebration. I think that setting up a government-run bank to offer mortgage loans and other financial services is a terrible idea. I think giving able-bodied people welfare without work requirements, sabotaging local businesses, and monkeying around with the apartment market are even more terrible ideas.

Because I don’t live in the places pursuing them, however, I can neither halt their implementation nor suffer their harmful consequences. They don’t worry me. At the same time, those who believe such policies are wonderful can go live in San Francisco, Seattle, New York, or Chicago. That also does me no harm. Here’s to our venerable right to vote by foot!

John Hood is a John Locke Foundation board member. His books Mountain Folk, Forest Folk, and Water Folk combine epic fantasy and American history.

“Voting by foot works quite well” was originally published on www.carolinajournal.com.