All politics is local
Nov. 4th, 2007 09:21 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rhuThis afternoon, one of our ward aldermen made his annual walk down our street to leave his "dear constituents" letter in our door. Although I'm planning to vote for him on Tuesday (not that he's running opposed or anything), I am troubled by the fact that this is basically all the contact he has with us.
I consider myself a committed and well-informed citizen. I read the Newton Tab cover-to-cover every week; I'm a moderately active commenter on their blog and on the Newton Streets and Sidewalks blog. I've contacted my ward aldermen about the traffic situation on Mill St. And I am one of the small percentage of Newton residents who votes in the off-year aldermanic and school-committee elections. I have read the campaign literature from and coverage of the various candidates in the contested races and have made (what I hope are) rational choices based on their positions on the issues facing Newton: the High School construction debacle and the looming Prop 2 1/2 override, traffic calming (including the bicycle lane issue on Walnut St.), rezoning and the Chestnut Hill development monster, the size of the Board of Aldermen, whether to extend the beach at Crystal Lake, which crumbling school building gets fixed first, and last but certainly not least the unbelievably fractious relationship between the mayor and the firefighters.
So why do I feel so disconnected? Despite the great efforts by the Tab and NewTV, why do I feel like my fellow citizens are tuned out? In this election, more than a national or even statewide election, our proportional voice is the strongest. For U.S. president, my vote doesn't count --- Massachusetts will send its electoral vote to the Democratic candidate, no matter what. But my choice between Geoff Epstein and Gail Glick in the only contested school committee race, or in the tough choice in Ward 3 at-large, could spell the difference in who gets elected --- and in who will vote on next year's budget, and what my property taxes will be, and whether the city services that I get will be sufficient, and whether the firefighters will have safe and adequate equipment.
So why aren't my neighbors and I debating the candidates' merits when we chat while watching the kids? Why aren't the candidates organizing local meet-and-greet parlor events? Why don't they do that during the year? Why is it that the only time I see Steve Linsky is the first Sunday in November as he's leaving my front porch after dropping off his letter?
Why aren't we passionate about this election? Why aren't we passionate about local government week in and week out?
What's wrong with us?
I consider myself a committed and well-informed citizen. I read the Newton Tab cover-to-cover every week; I'm a moderately active commenter on their blog and on the Newton Streets and Sidewalks blog. I've contacted my ward aldermen about the traffic situation on Mill St. And I am one of the small percentage of Newton residents who votes in the off-year aldermanic and school-committee elections. I have read the campaign literature from and coverage of the various candidates in the contested races and have made (what I hope are) rational choices based on their positions on the issues facing Newton: the High School construction debacle and the looming Prop 2 1/2 override, traffic calming (including the bicycle lane issue on Walnut St.), rezoning and the Chestnut Hill development monster, the size of the Board of Aldermen, whether to extend the beach at Crystal Lake, which crumbling school building gets fixed first, and last but certainly not least the unbelievably fractious relationship between the mayor and the firefighters.
So why do I feel so disconnected? Despite the great efforts by the Tab and NewTV, why do I feel like my fellow citizens are tuned out? In this election, more than a national or even statewide election, our proportional voice is the strongest. For U.S. president, my vote doesn't count --- Massachusetts will send its electoral vote to the Democratic candidate, no matter what. But my choice between Geoff Epstein and Gail Glick in the only contested school committee race, or in the tough choice in Ward 3 at-large, could spell the difference in who gets elected --- and in who will vote on next year's budget, and what my property taxes will be, and whether the city services that I get will be sufficient, and whether the firefighters will have safe and adequate equipment.
So why aren't my neighbors and I debating the candidates' merits when we chat while watching the kids? Why aren't the candidates organizing local meet-and-greet parlor events? Why don't they do that during the year? Why is it that the only time I see Steve Linsky is the first Sunday in November as he's leaving my front porch after dropping off his letter?
Why aren't we passionate about this election? Why aren't we passionate about local government week in and week out?
What's wrong with us?