Issue 43.15
If you want to make a difference and don’t have tons of money or time to give, get involved in local politics. We need many more people who understand the principles of freedom and are willing to do a few basic things. The first is to make a difference in local elections such as mayor, city council, county officials, sheriff, etc.
A little money donated to these candidates can make a lot of difference. A little time contacting people can be a game changer is some of these elections. Before you do any of that however, you want to be sure that those you are going to support are actually going to reflect the values of freedom, liberty and individual rights that we wish to see in all of society.
There are a number of ways to do that, but it might not be as simple as it seems. Don’t support someone because you think they are nice or good-looking or dynamic. Don’t support them because they go to church with you or you see them at the store every week. Take time and effort to ask good questions – preferably in a public forum where they can’t just tell you what they think you want to hear, but actually have to address issues in front of a diverse group with differing opinions. Then, hopefully, you will hear what they really think and what they will really do.
First off, don’t allow the candidates to hide behind a “feel good” public debate. I attended one last year where the audience was not allowed to submit or ask questions and the candidates could not ask questions of each other. It was a wasted hour and a half. We learned that all eight people running for city council thought living in our town was really great and that their wisdom, youth, energy or knowledge would make a difference in the future. There were no specifics and everyone left after a peaceful, pleasant and totally uninformative time together. If the people running the debate won’t ask the questions that you think should be answered, get some people together and invite the candidates to a real debate where the hard questions are asked and candidates are challenged. Below are some sample questions that almost everyone running for office should be asked and clear answers insisted upon.
How much is spent on salaries and benefits in the city/county? How much on new vehicles and equipment? How much on infrastructure repair and improvement (streets, safety, water, sewer, etc.) and how much needs to be spent in the next 5 years to keep everything running at current levels or better? 10 Years? 20 Years?
How much of that is necessary, could any of it be cut and where would you make such cuts? How much debt is the city/county paying interest on?
There is a balance between personal freedom and group well-being issues such as property values, etc. Are you more interested in seeing people have the freedom to do what they feel is important to them, or more interested in stopping those freedoms so the neighbors don’t feel those people are lowering the property values by having livestock or not having manicured landscaping?
Will you insist that law enforcement people respect individual rights or would you prefer that they ‘push the envelope’ to harass those that might seem to be “undesirable”.
Have you ever or would you ever use your position to create policies or ordinances that would benefit your business or property values or to create problems for your competition?
There are a lot of other good questions, but you get the idea. Ask the hard questions and demand answers that can be used to hold these people to account if they violate the principles of freedom.
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.