Local votes are important, too
Matt Pearl
Every couple of years, I get back around to this same point, and I revisit it again this week without apology: the discussion about how important it is for us to participate as voters (if not as candidates) in local elections.
The August vote is a couple of months away — but we know how fast a summer passes. By that time, many of us will be faced with decisions pertaining to, for example, county offices.
These elections don’t get the 24/7 media attention that the “presidential race” receives, but for the sake of our economic futures — particularly in northwest Missouri’s more rural communities — it is incumbent upon us to pay special attention to county and city elections.
My children are not old enough to receive many in-depth lessons on continental geography, but we do talk while in the car with them about where we are. While taking my elder son to preschool, I remember a day when we talked about being in King City, which is in Gentry County, which is in the State of Missouri, which is one of the 50 United States of America.
Just as their minds can grasp our immediate location, and are growing to embrace the larger concepts of counties, states, and countries, we likewise tend to view our world in ever-expanding concentric circles of relevance.
If you live within a city, the governing and taxation practices of your community will have a profound impact upon your life. You drive on those streets the most; you drink the water; you rely upon local emergency and police services. If you wish to see those aspects of your small-town life well maintained, then you must take a interest in local elections.
Too often, what I observe is the population ignoring their city and county governments until some law or ordinance ruffles their feathers — then they pour into city hall or the courthouse with their pitchforks and torches, demanding justice from a governing body that citizens barely know or understand.
We elected our local civic leaders during the April Election. County offices are being defended and contested this August, and it is imperative that we educate ourselves on the policies and agendas of our candidates.
Many positions seem to go uncontested, and for many of our county offices, that doesn’t bother me. I don’t see the benefit of having continuous courthouse turnover when our public servants are doing their jobs well. When things are working, that’s not when you need a challenger, per se.
It is when things are broken — or breaking — that we must discipline ourselves to expect more.
We cannot approach the opportunities (or the problems) of our local communities without a firm grip on reality: to do big things, it takes big money. The fastest (and most realistic) means for a municipality or county to increase its income is to tax you and me. If we want more, we either have to do without something else, or we must be ready to pay more.
That’s the last thing most of us want: higher taxes.
But eventually we might all come to understand that living in rural America — the last home for the original vision of the American settler, as far as I’m concerned — affords us a peaceful, wholesome life that many of our city brothers and sisters don’t share.
By that same token, we also might need to understand that living in the greatest place in the world requires our diligence in maintaining efficient local governments.
It would be wise for us to remember this.
