Describe the role played by state and local governments in the American political system

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

An ideal response would be:
State and local governments have more daily contact with ordinary Americans than the national government and make decisions that affect many people's daily lives—how schools are run, where roads and bridges are built, how land is used, and what social services are provided and to whom. They regulate our driving, our occupations, and our families (through marriage and divorce laws, among others). They decide, for the most part, what constitutes criminal behavior and how it should be charged, tried, and punished, and they have custody of more than 91 percent of the nation's nearly 2.4 million prison and jail inmates.
State and local governments administer most of our laws and domestic programs, including those funded by the federal government. Through Medicaid and related programs, state governments provide health care coverage for approximately half of all poor children and a quarter of all poor adults. With federal assistance, they finance half of all nursing home expenditures and more than one-third of all births. They pay for 79 percent of the total costs of building and maintaining our public highway system, and they are responsible for building and maintaining most of our bridges, water and sewage systems, and other elements of our nation's infrastructure. State and local colleges and universities educate nearly three of every four students enrolled in higher education.
State and local governments are a very large part of our economy. State and local expenditures as a percentage of national GDP have steadily grown during the last 30 years and have nearly the same total impact on our country's economy as does that of the national government. These governments employ nearly 20 million people in education, hospitals, police protection, and corrections.