My Perspective: All Politics Are Local

“All Politics is Local.”
Thomas (Tip) P. O’Neill, former U.S. Congressman & House Speaker

If all politics are local than why do so few people care about what is taking place in their city, town yet alone country or state. Why do so few people on facebook talk about the local political issues in their place of location but many talk about national issues? I have been hearing since I was a little boy that all politics are local but it seems that very few people care enough to talk about the local political issues affecting us as a people. I have had phone conversations with people who complain about education in their city or state but instead of talking about these issues and sharing what they would do with their local school board or state board of education, many just complain without doing anything.

Let me take it step further, so many people speak to me about how their politicians such as school board members, city council members, mayor, state representatives, state senator, governor, U.S. Congress member or U.S. Senator doesn’t do anything but when they have the opportunity to try to vote those people out, people don’t even show up to the polls unless it is a Presidential candidate on the ballot. When will it change people. All politics are local but even my age group, the youth in this nation fail to realize that. Even those who are politically savvy seem so caught in the national scene of politics that they fail to speak out against the local political issues plaguing their community, city or state.

When will it change people and when will we realize that no matter how much a President does in D.C. or what the members of Congress do in D.C. that money that comes to our city or state have to go through our local governments so if we don’t have the right people in place at the local level than that money will be wasted. If we as a people don’t put the right people in office on the state level than we are going to see our taxes raise in our state in order to balance budgets or the cutting of funding for certain state programs that are successful to us. If we as a people don’t elect the right put to our local school boards than instead of our local school board ensuring our children get the right resources to obtain a world class education than they will waste funds on old textbooks and give contracts to friends or put it in their own pockets. If we don’t elect the right leadership to local municipalities than we are going to see crime in our communities increase and the standard of living go down because our local municipalities aren’t spending the funds in the right way.

All politics are local but it seems that many people don’t care about their local elections. It seems as if people don’t take the time to elect people to school board, city council, etc. When will all of this change. When will we change national issues and turn them back into local issues and how they either benefit or hurt our local political discussions. This is what needs to take place. This is what many people in the age of Obama are missing. Local politics is the key to transforming America. It is clear that Obama has having a tough time changing Washington and he even admitted in his victory speech that he might not be able to change D.C. in one term. Therefore, we as people have to take hold of our local politics and change it. That’s where real change comes from, the local level.

If we are to change our education systems, our healthcare systems, our economy, and our future than it starts with getting involved in our local politics to change it. We have to change the status quo of politics on the local level. We have to change how we elect our local leaders and we must hold our local politicians accountable. It is time to stop getting outraged or obsessed with what Obama and the national government is doing when we aren’t doing the same for our local political issues. When will we as a people wake up and take hold of future and realize that it is through local political issues that we change government and how we do business. Most of our taxes as people come from our local and state governments. We have to understand that it is the people we elect to local and state government that harm or help us more so than those in D.C.

We as people have to do better and we have to engage ourselves in local politics if we are to change Washington. If we can’t change our local and state governments than changing D.C. will never occur. It is the local and state politics that helps D.C. stay the course of political bickering and discourse when the rest of the nation is suffering. We have to get political savvy and political astute about our local political issues because those are the issues that affect us more than our national political issues. It is the things at the local level that we as a people must monitor. It is no longer good enough for us a people to know who our President of the United States is but we don’t know who is our state representative, state senator, governor, school board member, city council member, mayor, U.S. Representative or U.S. Senator is? We have to do better people and this is the time to do it now rather than later.

We have to teach our youth that they must know about the local politics affecting their community such as crime, water rates, community clean ups, abandon houses, education, etc. We have to talk to our youth about local issues affecting our city, town or state because we can’t depend on our schools to do it. In fact if we don’t know the issues than we need to learn the issues right along with our youth if we are going to truly change the fate our nation. All politics are local but so few of us try to get involved in local politics. That is why we must get involved now in the local political issues plaguing us and we must share these issues with our neighbors, our family and friends no matter if it is through Facebook, MySpace or Twitter. We have to share our local political issues with each other so that we can perhaps share solutions on how to solve many of the issues plaguing our various cities, towns and states.

Now is the time to put change into affect by finally dealing with local political issues that impact us more than national issues. If not now than when, if not here than where, and if not today than what day? It is time to change the climate of local politics forever and it all starts with each of us getting involved in the local issues, discussing the local political issues, and sharing as well as shining light on those local issues plaguing our neighborhoods, communities, towns, cities and states. Be the change we want to be in the world but that all starts with changing our local politics.

“Change your thoughts and you change your world.”
Norman Vincent Peale (1898 - 1993)