Vote! All Politics Is Local!

So tomorrow is the big day — Election Day, the best chance we have hobbling (if not removing) the Orange Fascists in Washington until 2020. So, definitely, get out there and vote if you haven’t done so already.

Why wouldn’t you vote? Well, laziness, indifference, stupidity…and, here’s an odd one…the feeling that voting is not particularly exciting.

Unfortunately, people tend to focus on the big national and state-wide races, like those for Congress or the governor’s mansion. Sometimes that means voters, particularly in solidly Blue or Red states, become a bit indifferent. They may not even bother to cast their ballots. After all, why vote if the outcome is never in doubt? The GOP senator will probably have his seat for life, no matter what you do.

There is a serious error in that. To wit, big races get headlines, but the local races– the races for the state legislature, or the sheriff’s department, or (in some states) for judges’ positions — are just as important if not more so. They may not be as exciting as the national races (do you even know who’s on your town or city council? I’ll confess. I don’t) but let’s face facts. It is your mayor who really impacts your daily life. It is the school committee that decides what your child will be taught. It is your local water authority who decides rates and usage rights.

And…it is the state legislature who can decide whether or not to approve a constitutional convention, which is the Republicans would like to see happen. (No. Really. They want the Constitution rewritten along libertarian lines. Imagine a world in which Food Stamps were literally unconstitutional.)

So, your vote counts everywhere…particularly at the local level…even if it seems like it doesn’t. No matter how invulnerable your Senator or Governor may seem, remember that it is these less glamorous offices that may, in the long run, determine the fate of the nation.

The great Tip O’Neil put it best when he said “All politics is local.” Well, it is. And your vote is local.

And that’s what makes it so important.

Honor your power to vote, and use it, no matter what. Vote local.

And thus help to change the world.