Local politics are the purest form of democracy, yet it feels as though no one pays any attention and is only concerned with the national level. How many people can you name that serve on your city council or local school board? I am willing to bet outside of election season it’s a very small number. That needs to change.
Why? The local level still feels very similar to a direct representative democracy. Anyone could easily go out and run for local office. This is very important because it allows people to begin to introduce new ideas and attempt to actually be the change they want to see within their community. We saw parents of two Parkland victims run for school board in an effort to increase gun safety.
Another reason to pay attention to local politics and get involved with them is because local governments are run by the people whom they govern, these local governments take care of local issues like potholes, public parks and more. The people who make these decisions live within these communities, so they understand what it means to be a member of the community. That creates a closeness between representatives and those that elect them. That closeness is something that is lost when it comes to national politics where our representatives only come back to our state during election season. They don’t truly know what it's like to live in the counties and districts they represent.
It is our duty as citizens to use our local governments as a defense against policies made at the national level those in the community do not agree with. Local politics are where movements are born and will begin to gain traction and move up through the state and eventually end up becoming an issue with the national government.
In addition, people should get involved because it makes them a better citizen — someone who is working with those in their community to bring about the change they feel that is best for those within the community. Because those elected are working for those in the community, there are no party politics to tear apart town hall and school board meetings, just people being able to talk about issues that have arisen within the community that they feel need to be addressed.
If you want to get involved in local politics then go to town hall and school board meetings, talk to those who make the final decisions when it comes to policy making. You should also get out and talk to your neighbors about any issues you may have, because chances are since you all live with the same area, they will have realized this issues as well and would also like to make change. Getting involved with local politics helps create better and more informed citizens that can take the things they learned and used locally to the state and national level and make changes within this nation for the better.
Logan Carr is a freshman studying political science at Ohio University. Please note that the views and opinions of the columnists do not reflect those of The Post. Do you agree? Let Logan know by emailing him at lc300918@ohio.edu.
