Local Government - We’re so close, yet so out of touch!
Often times, even though we know the names and positions of elected politicians on the national level, such as President George Bush, we do not know a lot of information about our local government. Participation in off-year elections, which most often focus on members of local government, is low all over the country. Unfortunately, voters - as a whole - tend not to take interest in local government. However, there seems to be a few exceptions to this. Many times, residents of a big city will know the name and positions of their mayor, especially if it’s someone who is nationally prominent; such as Ed Rendell, Richard Daley, or Rudy Giuliani.
Because community governments have the authority to make decisions, on a very microcosmic level, local government policy is often what affects our lives the most. The local government can establish and maintain important projects such as community libraries. Community governments are also very responsible for establishing and maintaining the education system in one’s area, something that is handled comparatively little on the federal level. Local government also has the power to allow businesses to build in an area, or to disallow them from doing so. Even federally mandated services - such as welfare- are often administrated by community governments, which is part of a recent trend towards giving more power to community governments.
Considering the influence community governments can have on our lives, and the fact that these governments are in some ways becoming even more involved, it’s surprising that the general voting public - by and large - seems to be so disinterested in what their local government officials are doing.
One reason some people might be disinterested in community governments, is because a countless number of people only get their news from nationally oriented media sources, such as 24-hour news networks and national newspapers, as opposed to tuning into their hometown evening news channel, or reading their town’s newspaper.
Considering all of this, it might be time for us, as members of the American public, to take a more active interest in our local government, because not only does it affect our lives in crucial ways, but also it’s where we can most directly make a difference in our country on a political level.
For further resources, you may wish to follow these links:
http://www.dot.gov/
(This Website provides links to information about various community governments throughout the country)
http://www.cities-localgovernments.org
(This web page is an organization devoted to promoting effective community governments, both American and worldwide)