by Frost Jones
[ originally published in SFH Newszine Issue #2, 25 May 2022 ]
Do you think Joe Biden gives a shit what your opinion is? Do you think Trump did? Maybe they do, maybe they don’t, but the chance that you’ll ever interact with them is null.
But how do you feel about the particular policy fights that your local senator or representative is fighting in Jefferson City? Do you even know what fight they are fighting? Do you even know what their name is?
Go more local: Do you know who runs your county? Do you know who makes decisions on what to do when the tarp flies off the salt shed? Do you contract it out, or have the county guys spend time fixing it? You are likely paying for it, in a way, but how do you know what you’re supposed to care about?
Go more local still: Who decides which streets connect to your business? Is it the city planners? The zoning committee? Your alderman? Do you know who your alderman is?
Those final two levels: county and city, are occupied by extremely accesible people. Local people. You could probably get a lunch meeting with almost every single person at that level. But instead we watch CNN or FoxNews and yell at the TV and curse Joe Biden.
Not that cursing a politican is a bad thing, it is the most American thing in a lot of ways, but defining yourself based on national politics is a way to scream in the void and miss entirely a whole realm of politics that actually affect your community.
Among local politicans, I’ve noticed that there doesn’t exist a hunger for transparency. Really, very few politicians are trying to be completely transparent. I think this is an orientation problem, and a way of stupidly minimizing the political value of orienting as an extreme transparentalist. Encourage citizens to survey everything. Encourage participation actually. If I’m controlling a city’s facebook page, I’m posting the agenda and an announcement that the meeting is happening and encouraging citizens to come make their voices heard.
I understand the pressure to just get the annoying folks out of your hair. I have seen the mega-cringe local crusaders who come into these meetings misunderstanding the laws and who is in charge and making everyone feel awkward. Pitiful and pathetic. And I do think those folks should have a voice, but I also don’t think that encouraging participation will necessarily attract more nonsense. Maybe in the aggregate there will be more, but you will also have hopefully attracted a few thoughtful folks that make the city better off.
It is my conviction that local people can do so much more to help their communities. Nobody runs for local offices. Just nobody, who isn’t deep inside the bubble. But you can. You are allowed to, even if you run an honest business or have spent years working in retail or at a restaurant. You have something to offer, and that is what local is all about.
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