Local elections of prime importance
We just concluded the most protracted, punishing and peculiar presidential campaign in modern American history. Many viewed not only the three main debates and the vice president face-off, but also the many, many preliminary debates that preceded them. Some became addicted to nightly confrontations among an assortment of talking heads on various news outlets. And “Family Feud” moved from the Game Show Network to the nightly dinner table – but not in a good way.
Call it Excedrin Headache No. 2016 – a migraine that lasted for 15 months.
Here’s some “breaking news.” It wasn’t the most important election of your lifetime.
While the national election is very important, it has minimal effect on Canonsburg residents compared with our local elections. It’s the people you elect to Canonsburg offices that most affect your pocketbook, your education and your lifestyle.
Unfortunately, our local elections do not occur in the same cycle as a presidential election and without the hoopla that accompanies such a national event, they generate minimal interest. There are no televised debates, no thought pieces in newspapers and no talking head roundtables on CNN or Fox. To my knowledge, there aren’t even candidate debates at a school or church. And I suspect that any planned stadium rally by a candidate would attract fewer people than a track meet.
It’s true that some candidates trudge up and down even the steepest streets of Canonsburg to tell their story, but few people bother to answer their doors.
The result is precinct tallies that seldom reach 1,000, and elections that are sometimes decided by a handful of votes. It is, in a word, indifference.
Yet it is often the very people who ignore local elections – or may not even be aware of them – who complain about parking meters, potholes, barking dogs, nasty neighbors, garbage collection, recreation facilities, tax rates and even the hours for trick or treat.
None of those issues are going to be addressed by the President of the United States, Governor of Pennsylvania or Washington County Commissioners; they have larger issues to tackle. Your Canonsburg Council and Canon-McMillan School Board, however, will not only listen to your complaints and suggestions – they can do something about them.
But if you expect a resolution to your satisfaction, you first have to help form a council and school board that relates to your core values.
You need to determine if a person is seeking office to stroke his or her ego, to reach another stepping stone on a political ladder, to settle a political score or simply to serve constituents.
You need to assess if the candidate’s beliefs and propositions align with your ideas.
You need to understand a local budget, or at least its capabilities. A candidate promising to pave every road in the borough or to build the largest high-tech school in the state is not going to be able to deliver on that promise.
On the other hand, a candidate who vows to develop a comprehensive plan to address street repairs or to assess student learning capabilities based on need is taking the more rational approach.
You need to meet your candidates, if only to make an informed decision in the voting booth.
Unfortunately, electing a local official – a person that can greatly influence you and your family – cannot be done by watching television news channels or reading between the lines on “Saturday Night Live” parodies. At the very least, you need to answer the door when a candidate comes-a-calling. You need to ask questions about the paraphernalia you are given. How does the candidate plan to achieve these bulleted items? How about your personal priorities that the candidate isn’t addressing? What is his or her vision for Canonsburg compared to yours?
If all this sounds like more work than electing the American president, it is. But it is also more in keeping with the intent of the founding fathers.
And 240 years ago, the influence of the media – let alone social media – wasn’t even a consideration. Voting is and should be a very individual decision. It’s not always going to be the right decision, but at the very least, it will be an honest one.
And in the instance of a local election, it is a decision that weighs heavily on the future on you and your family. It is not to be ignored. n