In just a few days, each of you has an opportunity to make a statement
about how you view your local community.
It’s municipal election time. If
you don’t read this post soon, it might be pretty much academic, and that would
be a real shame.
Let’s be realistic. You probably
won’t have a wide variety of opportunities, and you may be unhappy with the
opportunities you do have. That doesn’t
mean you shouldn’t make the best of them this time, and see what you can do to
make next time better.
Perhaps the saddest thing about the electoral process in our country is
the low turnout; municipal elections see the lowest turnout, making them the
saddest of all. To the academic mind,
this seems strange. Local government is
responsible, directly or indirectly, for community safety, street repair (and
plowing), code enforcement, and a host of things of direct, personal interest to the voter. It is also the smallest body politic in which
we cast votes, meaning it takes fewer people to have a real effect. This is the only redeeming corollary to the
problem of low turnout: if the total
number of votes cast is small, the number needed to win is even smaller. That makes the local odds the best anyone who
ventures into politics will ever have to face.
Thus the occasional independent candidate does enter the lists, and the success
rate in local elections is much higher than at any other level.
For all that, the task of making an impact for good on the local level
remains huge. The numbers a candidate
needs to win appear small, until you actually go out and try to find them. A major part of the reason is apathy. There is absolutely nothing new about this,
of course, and apathy remains the real enemy, just as it always has been. Some people just can’t be reached, but you
keep on trying anyway. I hope. If local history suggested any differently, I
would say so, but it doesn’t. The more
things change…
Apathy may be the community activist’s primary enemy, but it is by no means
the only one. Another problem stems from
what I castigated several posts ago as “the wrong attitude.” That particular post produced the most
negative comments of any (so far), but I stand by what I said. Many of you may be tempted to “throw ALL the
bums out,” and vote accordingly. That is
an attitude toward which I have greater sympathy these days, in view of recent
events in Washington. Still, I don't recommend you apply it even on the national level, and absolutely not on the municipal level. Your vote counts too much.
What is coming up shortly is an election, your constitutional opportunity
to replace those who need replacing. You make (or you should make) that decision
after becoming acquainted with the local situation, on an individual
basis. An informed, selective “No” is
always justified; an across the board “No” may on occasion be, assuming it is
based on accumulated facts, but an uninformed,
reflexive “No” never is.
That’s why I find the efforts of the local community activist groups so
encouraging. They know full well the
problems of apathy and attitude, and get involved anyway. Each group is taking its own approach, because
different communities present different conditions and require different
approaches. Each group of the Facebook
Alliance, from the Schuylkill Valley to Bellevue in Western Pennsylvania and
from Norristown to Allentown, are all active in making people aware of the
election, what the issues are and who is running. Some are endorsing or at least promoting
specific candidates. Others are
not. All, however, post appeals to vote
on Facebook, and continue to inform their residents of the conditions the
existing officials tolerate and the new voices that want change.
Most important of all is how so
many local groups are trying to educate people, making them not just voters but
informed voters. They post election information, organize
events, and invite municipal officials, representatives and candidates to
participate. A most encouraging sign is
that the different activist groups are doing this good work jointly, in addition to keeping each
other informed. I can’t mention each
event in each town, but want to offer major kudos to Norristown Men of
Excellence and Norristown Nudge for jointly organizing a Candidates Forum, as
just one example. There are many others.
While I want to commend the usual groups for their more than usual
effort, I also want to place a spotlight on those who have emerged from other
groups to lead these information crusades.
The Facebook page “Bridgeport, Pa.” is a general discussion group, not
primarily an activist one. A few members
of the group joined together to generate resident interest in the upcoming
election (not to mention the appointment of a new Chief of Police). This was not an attempt to take sides, but to
inform borough residents of who their candidates are and where they stand on
local issues. They went about this the
right way, openly discussing the process, and seeking input from other members
of the discussion group. They first
asked other residents for the issues they want raised and the questions they
want put to borough candidates. They
assembled the responses and cast them into ten questions. They put the questions to the candidates for Council, then posted the questions and responses one by
one. The fact that each candidate answered each question is a tribute to just how open and fair the process
was. This judgment is reinforced by the
fact that one current councilman responded, despite his not running for office
again. The online discussion they raised
was the important thing, of course, and Bridgeport residents were the
beneficiaries. There are also signs that
resident activism might continue after the elections, a very encouraging
development.
So, once again, dear friends, into the breach, even though this democracy
thing can be really annoying. Winston
Churchill, who knew a little about the subject, once said, “Democracy is the
worst form of government ever conceived by the mind of man, except for all the
others.” Win or lose, we should keep
that in mind.
No comments:
Post a Comment