article_snippet.sent: Since the New Deal in the 1930s, which followed the total collapse of the patchwork of local and state social welfare programs overwhelmed by the weight of the Great Depression, doing things at the national level has been seen as the only way to go.
article_snippet.sent: In this view, it was believed that only Washington policymakers could bring together the best and brightest minds to make sure that programs were designed and administered well.
article_snippet.sent: This is one of the lessons of the 1910s and 1920s, when liberal activists in states such as New York and Wisconsin experimented with programs ranging from unemployment insurance to the regulation of work conditions.
article_snippet.sent: Local policymakers and experts developed these programs for many years before Local policymakers and experts were ever brought to the national stage.
article_snippet.sent: When Franklin Roosevelt came to office in the 1930s, Franklin Roosevelt looked to these programs for inspiration about what to do at the national level.
article_snippet.sent: The same was true in the 1960s when Lyndon Johnson and the Democratic Congress put together civil rights, anti-poverty and urban development programs that had been implemented at the state level.
article_snippet.sent: When Republicans pushed for welfare reform in 1996, Republicans drew many ideas from local changes that had been put into place in states such as Wisconsin, which had received waivers from national requirements.
article_snippet.sent: This vibrant period of local policymaking will help to prepare the groundwork for the next moment -- like the early 1930s or mid-1960s or during the financial crisis of 2008-2010 -- when the doors for legislating will open in Washington.
highlights_snippet.sent: Trying programs out locally can set groundwork for Washington action in coming years, Julian Zelizer says .