“One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors.”
This quote from Plato pretty well sums up what I’m thinking this morning after witnessing the shenanigans of our elected representatives over the past few weeks. The plan that they came up with in dealing with the debt ceiling has few winners – mainly Congress – and a whole lot of losers – most of America. I agree with this Virginian-Pilot editorial: they did this to save face.
The bigger problem, of course, is that some of us elect those willing to serve. I say “some of us” because far too many just don’t vote. And the pool of people willing to serve seems to get smaller and smaller all the time, no doubt in part due to the insane amounts of money necessary.
And we wonder why Washington is so dysfunctional.
Coming soon – if not already – is that same dysfunctionalism to Richmond. And then to your local council.
Elections have consequences. Decisions are made by those who show up.
Don’t like it? Then do something about it. Give of your time, your talents, your money, and yes, your vote, to someone who can help to make things better. Given our election cycle, it’s always election season in Virginia, so you have plenty opportunity to make a difference.
Or we can just continue to be governed by our inferiors.
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VIVIAN J. PAIGE | All Politics is Local 
Great quote. I think this is so true and such a small percentage vote , especially in local and state races, however it seems a large percent feel they have the right to complain.
Well I vote every election. I go out and listen to both sides in debates, read every available voting guide, look at their past experience and their past votes if an incumbent. So I am going to complain.
The thing that upsets me is that we all see the federal as being dysfunctional. We seem to have not control over that. However, I think the voters should start and the bottom and work their way up.
Wouldn’t it be great if there was a spending limit on local campaigns. What ever reasonable amount but one that would allow anyone who was qualified to run. Lately the only qualification you seem to need is how much money you can raise to bombard the voters with calls and fliers. I think also no pacs should be allowed to be on the local level. Really does a pac need to spend 50,000 to get a person on council? Now I am guessing at that number because the pac I am referring to is listed as to new to have a listing on vpap even though the election is long past.
I know it may sounds radical that our elections should not be bought. However, would it not be worth giving it a try and seeing how it works on the local level. I bet we would end up with more candidates. Out of those we could get a few good leaders who did not feel they were indebted to people who payed their way. If it worked out maybe then we could try it at the state level.
However, I know this is a pie in the sky dream . The best we can hope for is that people will research their candidates and actually vote. Even though that is done by less and less people.
One more quote why it is important to vote:
Nobody will ever deprive the American people of the right to vote except the American people themselves and the only way they could do this is by not voting.
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Going to add that one to my Favorite Quotes page.
Go Vivian!,
Yes, decisions are made by the people who show up.
And..yes the system these days to get elected takes insane amounts of money…which I do not have.
Keep up the goood fight to get folks involved.
Pam
Thanks, Pam. And you keep at it, too. We all need to do as much as we can.
You’ve got it right, Vivian. Can you remind us in your convincing way how bad voter dissatisfaction and lack of participation has become? For example, how does it play out in close races, where a stronger voter turn-out would have changed the outcome in some local race(s)?
Keep us going—we need a steady push to do our duty: Vote.
I’ll have to pull the stats but voter participation, particularly in local races, is abysmal. In fact, I think we don’t get many close races because of it. A real shame.
It’s depressing, but here are the official statistics from the State Board of Elections;
http://www.sbe.virginia.gov/cms/Statistics_Polling_Places/Registration_Statistics/voting_statistics.html
Also, in my opinion, trying to limit campaign contributions or spending is just a cop-out. With an educated population who seeks out information, no amount of money is going to sway an election, so long as you reach the plateau where your message actually gets out. Stupid people will be stupid whether or not a million dollars are spent convincing them to do something or not. The best chance we have at limiting the influence of money is developing a public system for getting your message out. The media should be doing this, but they don’t. As big as Hampton Roads is, the political reporter for the Pilot doesn’t even live in the region and he does a horrible job as is.
Just curious – who are you referring to that doesn’t live in the region?
Julian Walker. He lives in Richmond and even though that makes sense to cover the GA, he does most of the local political stories too. Richmond isn’t exactly Hampton Roads and it’s a damn shame that the Pilot doesn’t care enough about Hampton Roads to actually cover local politics. Then again, if they actually did a shred of the job they should be doing, they would make too many enemies. That’s the problem with most media outlets today; they are completely lacking in anything resembling a spine. You and I both know there are some serious shenanigans that go on all the time that the media has to know about, but just refuses to cover for *whatever* reason.
If people knew how decisions about candidates and elections were really made, they would be outraged, and that’s just on the local level. If they really understood how national politics and decision making worked, there would be blood running in the streets before long. Heck, at this point it’s almost better they don’t know. Just look at the Tea Party, they get so angry over everything that they lose their rational thinking ability. If America ever did really wake up, they would probably still make stupid, reactionary decisions that went against their own self interest.
I thought you might be talking about Julian. I disagree that he does a horrible job. But his beat is the General Assembly, so don’t hold him accountable for local politics.
The Pilot has Bill Bartel on the ground in Hampton Roads to cover politics. Even he doesn’t really cover the local stuff, but he does cover the local response to mostly national stuff.
There is a lack of local political reporting, to be sure, made so primarily because of the size of the newspaper’s staff. Soon, some of the reporters that normally cover other things will be assigned to the campaigns to cover them. But for political junkies like us, that “soon” isn’t soon enough.
Have we seen any reporting about the primary in the 90th that is coming up in less than 20 days?
As for the shenanigans – I don’t know that reporters can get inside the process enough to understand it while remaining impartial. I don’t know that there ever was reporting on that kind of thing, at least not from newspapers. Plus, there is the issue of the size of the group to which such things matter. I agree that people need to know, though.
And getting a bunch of apathetic voters to the polls does nothing but get us a pathetic government.
I think “participation” means more than just showing up to vote.
And is a lot harder to get.
That is where the local community / neighborhood groups and civic groups like League of Women Voters come in. They try to keep people informed and have debates and public forums on issues. You are correct it is getting harder and harder to get people to care. I think so many people are so sick of the Federal politics that they are shutting themselves out of all politics. I think that is going to be hard on the groups that get the info out to the public. Hopefully these groups won’t give up.