Issue 32.15
We touched on this briefly a few weeks ago, but the off-year election season is heating up with primary elections coming up in a few days. Someone once said “All politics are local”. While it is true that many of us are concerned with the big picture items such as immigration, health care reform, foreign policy, wars, national budget, debt, over-reach by bureaucracies, legislators and judges, etc., the tone of the country is often set from the bottom up.
The reason for this is that most of those you elect or who become powerful in the various branches of government come up “through the ranks” as City Council or County Commission members. Some are Mayors or Planning Commission or School Board members. This is where they cut their teeth so to speak and it is where they learn what is acceptable to the public and what is not.
The sad reality is that many find out the public isn’t paying attention and will not hold them accountable to support freedom and integrity. If their intentions are to gain power but not to really serve the cause of liberty, they learn to say the right things, knowing that only a minority will be aware enough to call them on their choices.
This is an area where the local voter can make a significant difference and perhaps, even stop some of the politicians that want a career instead of wanting to serve before they get where they can do real damage. If a city councilperson finds out that people will vocally disagree or work against them in an election when they make anti-freedom decisions or statements, they will either choose to learn more about what they should be doing or they will lose the elections and someone else will take over.
For example, say a city or county official makes decisions that benefit their favorite businessman or restrict your rights as a homeowner (or even a renter). If they dictate too severely what you can or can not do on or with your own property, you can stand up, speak against them or their policies in public meetings, write letters to the editor or comment on local radio talk shows about the things they are doing that upset you. Shining a light on something is the best way to defeat it in the public square when it is wrong.
Find out who is in favor of or has voted to raise your taxes. Find out who thinks the government should decide how your children should be raised or educated. Find out who gives special favors to those who fund their elections campaigns. Find out if they speak or act against Constitutional principles – because those principles of freedom are just as valid in local decisions as they are in the national forum. Truth is truth, wherever it is applied.
I strongly recommend attending city council, mayor, county commission and school board debates and ask questions that matter. If those who arrange the debate won’t let the public ask the tough questions, ask them why they think their questions are more important than yours. Ask them how you can decide if you can’t get more out of the candidates than “This is a great place to live. I love it here. Vote for me and it will be better.”
That is what I usually hear because the hard questions about zoning, land use, bonding, taxes, improvement districts, etc. are never asked. Just be involved and don’t remain silent, especially when you freedoms are at stake.
Lynn West is a thinker, a teacher and a patriot. You can reach him through email at forgingthefuture2021@gmail.com or through this newspaper. Liberty is a state of being which must be continually created. These articles can help all of us discover the ways we can contribute to that outcome.