The Ripple Effect, Or How Your Vote Really DOES Count

Those of us who write political blogs such as this or contribute to pages on Facebook consider what we do extremely important. We are overwhelmed with a desire to get the word out, to educate people to what's going on in politics, to point out what we believe is wrong with our system, our society. It's almost a calling for us. For some of us, this is a “2nd job.”

All that being said, however, because the time we have to do what we do is limited, we're more or less restricted to posting about generalized national issues and the larger societal problems we see. We just don't have the time or resources to dig into anything at the state level except right at the surface, and we certainly can't give any more than just a passing glance at the local level of politics.

That's your job.

As bad as things are at the federal level - and if you've been paying attention even a LITTLE, you know that “bad” is wholly inadequate to describe the dysfunction – you are affected much more at the state level, and the most by the local level. Given the daily screaming by the MSM (Fox included) about the federal level of government, most people don't even think about their local government.

Personally, I know maybe a dozen or more people who take great pride in only voting in national elections. They then proceed to whine and moan about their failing school district, their property taxes being raised, even corruption in their local law enforcement and activism instead of judgment in the judiciary. It's very difficult to stay calm when I'm forced to listen to their clap-trap.

Here's a hint – LOCAL ELECTIONS MATTER!!!

If don't like how your school is being run, elect a new school board. They control nearly every aspect of your child's school life, from the curriculum all the way down to the budget. Work to get a board elected that more closely reflects your views and values. It *can* be done.

If you think your property taxes are too high, elect a local government that will do everything possible to lower, or at least not raise them any higher. Since *most* property taxes are tied to the local school budget, electing a decent school board will help in this area as well. Elect people, across your local government, who will make the hard choices when it's necessary, not the politically expedient choices. Yes, it really IS that simple.

As for corruption in law enforcement and activism in the judiciary, elect sheriffs and judges who are strict constructionists. We don't need them to *interpret* the laws, we need them to *enforce* the laws AS THEY ARE WRITTEN. Nobody should care what a criminal had to endure in their childhood that “made” them become who they are today. There are ALWAYS choices to be made; they made bad ones. Activist judges, who “feel sorry” for perpetrators, and lessen sentences betray the victims of the crimes.

We've all heard “elections have consequences” ad nauseum, ad infinitum, and that is most definitely true, and they certainly matter. But there's something else elections have that most people never consider – they have ripple effects, even local elections. In fact, I would say ESPECIALLY local elections.

Think about it – by virtue of a couple of elections, your town, township, municipality, city, whatever it is, gets its house in order and everything is running as smooth as can be. They serve as an example for the surrounding towns, etc., and they proceed to make similar strides in THEIR governments. From there it ripples out, further and further, until it encompasses the state, then the next state, and so on, and so on, and so on. Soon, we have the nation back on its correct path, and all is right with the world. Our little corner of it, anyway.

Is that a somewhat simplified timeline? Yes. Is it impossible to accomplish? I don't think so, but it will most certainly take a great deal of time to bring it to fruition. But it has to start somewhere, and soon. Why not YOUR town?

Where I live, there is some sort of election every year, whether it's for some judges, the county sheriff, school board, even the animal control officer. I imagine the same is generally true nearly everywhere across this once-and-future great nation of ours. Get involved, learn who the candidates are, particularly for your school board, whether you have children in school or not. Learn what they believe, discover what they stand for, and work to get the ones you best identify with elected.

Believe or not, all this starts with you. Are you willing to be the pebble that starts the ripple effect? ~ Hunter