Governing... Locally
So you want to be politically active?
I have never been politically active — until now. I’m ashamed to say the number of times I’ve voted over the decades, even in a presidential election, has been extremely few. It felt like a waste of time, or even an assault on any sense of personal integrity I might have. I tend to hate all the candidates — or, for anything below major offices at the national level, I just didn’t know about them, had no easy way to find out, and (frankly) didn’t care. Until now. Now I want to be politically active. The question is… how?
First off, I’m not all that sure that voting is the most important thing you can do as an American citizen, or a citizen of any democracy. I strongly recommend this book on alternative models of democratic participation: David van Reybrouck’s Against Elections. I read it this year and had my eyes opened.
If you are going to vote, please, for goodness’ sake, become a responsible citizen first, not a patsy for the mass propaganda that is surely out to get you. Study how government works (and doesn’t), study the issues, study policy positions (across party lines), think carefully about what kind of person should be elected to public office, think about the role government should play (at all, versus other options) and at what level. Think about a whole lot of things — for which the answers are not obvious — before you run out and vote. Please.
— Not that you will have a lot of choice, since the Party Machines will have already determined your limited options — to two miserable ones — long before you set foot in the polling station.
Here’s Your Option :)
Look local. This is what I’m going to do.
The United Nations is not the end-all, be-all, even for global issues. National politics? Good luck. But what about state and local matters?
Why might it better for most politics to happen locally? Because 1) you will have a better chance to figure out what’s actually going on, possibly firsthand; 2) you have a genuine chance to make a real impact; and 3) if you really, really don’t like your local political situation, you can relatively easily vote with your feet and move.
To that end, here is today’s Friday resource:
It’s a link to the topics page of the Governing.com website, which consolidates “governing” news from across all 50 states, at all levels of local government: state, county, city. If you subscribe, you’ll be deluged, so you’ll have to narrow down your feed. If you really care only about your own state or locality, you should be able to find more focused resources. (I was able to find three dedicated political news outlets serving just my tiny state of New Mexico.) Governing.com is at least a place to start.
In addition to specific topics and policy issues of interest or concern, do check out the website’s essays on federalism, which is the political theory undergirding our political system based on 50 (supposedly) united States.
Another Option?
If you’re sick of Democratic and Republican party shenanigans and/or the limitations of a two-party system, check out the Forward Party, which wants to Make Politics Local Again. :)
Here’s the teaser:
Did you know there are over 500,000 elected positions in the United States, AND, get this, 70% of them go uncontested? Yes — you read that right.
