Voting in Local Elections

Lots of people don't vote. They've either lost hope in the system, or don't like their choices enough to bother going to the polls. Even some people who do vote, won't bother to vote in local elections. They vote for President and national races only. So, this might lead others to not get involved in local campaigns, which might lead people to think that local elections are unimportant. This is completely wrong! Local elections are the support base for the national offices. Local office holders run the cities, townships, and counties that support our states and ultimately our country.

Without local officials you would have no schools, no parks, no streets, no local police, or myriad other services the cities supply to their residents. The races held in your towns, cities, townships, and counties affect you more directly than any national race does. Mayors and Aldermen decide budgets which affect your taxes, the price of water, the local funding for projects, and numerous other decisions.

Just because the candidates don't get plastered all over cable news networks and they don't go on campaign tours, it doesn't mean that their views and platforms aren't important. Politics in America has become about looking good on television and saying the right thing to get a soundbite on the 5 o' clock news. It's more about having a good image than a good policy. Americans need to get out of this slump of voting for the candidate who has better hair, or nicer teeth.

Voting is a privilege. Not to downplay the importance of national politics, but local races are pretty much the only serious races remaining. Those races are the ones in which the candidates are required to have sound ideas for policy and a concern for the real issues. It shows the mentality of our nation when the only remaining serious elections are the ones which enjoy low participation. People don't want to think, and they don't have to when they vote for President. Some people watch only enough news to hear three good soundbites, which may be entirely out of context, and on that flimsy evidence they vote for the one that appeals to them. It's time for people to realize that you can't run a country on nice hair or a pleasant smile.

So, show your value for this country's privilege and vote in local elections. Make your family, friends, and neighbors aware of the necessity for intelligent participation in this nation's elections--local and national. Read. Think. Vote.