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I would argue history disagrees with you that "state and local governments [...] most abused peoples' rights." See the American Revolution / British Empire, Nazi Germany, Communist Russia, etc... etc...

Also, sorry, my pro-state musings in my edit were not meant to characterize my anti-government criticism regarding the abuse of government power as pro-state. In retrospect, it was misguided for me to include that there.

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You're comparing apples and oranges. I'm talking about American history here.

The history of other countries usefully expands the set of experience we can collectively call upon when trying to understand how institutions of power behave and interact.

You said "state and local governments [...] most abused peoples' rights." Even though you meant in America, the more important question is in places like America.

People can move away from abusive/totalitarian local governments.

The examples have nothing in common other than that they involve countries. They're utterly ridiculous.

And of course, that they are made up of people who are subject to human nature. Thus it is relevant if one can draw correlations regarding outcomes from shared traits.

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