Local governments are agents of the state. The state is the primary sovereign body in this country
Guess I'm pretty late to the party on this thread, but maybe someone will give me some feedback.
Much as I like Dan Patrick, I did think he was inconsistent on this, advocating that the Fed Gov should stay out of a local issue, but then inserting himself into it as a state official. I agree completely with the substance of his remarks, but aren't the school boards in TX independent, with Trustees elected by the local population? That's the way it works here just west of Houston anyway. Seems to me that the people of FW have it in their power to reverse this if they want to at the ballot box.
I suppose one could argue that Obama was attempting extortion by withholding funds, while Patrick was merely exhorting the people with no threat, so their actions are not directly comparable.
How do we decide between local control and basic sanity in human relations, both of which are hard principles?