Saturday, March 1, 2008

Local Politics

As I was reclining in bed yesterday, zoning out to "Ten Things I Hate About You", the doorbell rang. I was appalled, guessing it was a door to door salesman, and I didn't even get my robe, just answered the door in my boxer's & T-shirt. Imagine my shock, surprise & delight when I discovered a local politician (running for City Council), ringing doorbells and asking for support. I didn't know this happened anymore!

Imagine my chagrin when I realized I didn't know there was a local election scheduled for April 22nd.

Sure, I have seen the signs in people's yards, supporting this candidate or that one. I just assumed (and we all know about assuming) that the election would be held in November along with the national one. Now I am facing an election in less than 2 months, with absolutely no clue. I don't even know who this guy is running against. And while his flyer is very nice, giving a brief synopsis of his life, it barely touches on the issues. He did, however, put his phone number on it, so I guess I could call him and find out more about him.

It is easy to follow national politics. They are all over the news, the blogs, etc. It seems like it would be easy to follow local politics, to get involved, to attend meetings of the School Board, County Commissioners and City Council. But these are held during the day when I am at work and they barely rate a ripple on the local news. I haven't even seen any commercials for this election.

I have not been impressed with the direction my small city has been headed in for the last 4 years. I don't live in Destin or Sandestin. They are great places, but I don't want to live there and we seem to be headed in that direction. That can't be stopped now, but that doesn't mean that we have to become a clone of them.

I am just not really sure what to do to become involved locally. Any ideas?

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I don't understand your question.

I would expect that you have only to slide over to the office of the cause toward which you lean the most and announce your availability. Instantly you will be given all sorts of things to do.

In the event that your face conceals the full extent of your energy and resolve, causing a delay of a second or two, you can show your Leap Year post on refinancing your home. :)

Anonymous said...

part of the problem of media consolidation is less focus on local issues... is there a local paper? even a free one? I'd pick it up... I'd also see what kind of civic groups/clubs there are around... as they often have an agenda regarding local issues, they probably know what's going on...