Aftermath

Youth. I want youth in our leaders. Throughout the nation, we need young people learning the ropes of running our country. Ethnicities, too. A fully representational span of leaders. That begins locally. Municipal agencies, county agencies, too. These are the levels of government we see and feel the most. And the leaders and managers are our neighbors, colleagues at work and church. They know us. We know them.

The local factor builds trust. We can discuss issues with our locals. They can learn the why we feel the way we do about some of the issues. We can appreciate the complexity our local leaders deal with in managing those public services as well.

Locals lead us to regional agencies. Regional leads us to state agencies. State government leads us to national agencies that comprise the federal government.

I’m talking here about getting things done. Routine and long term. Longer term functioning revolves around policies that speak to our values and processes. These are not created from thin air. They come from understanding the depth and complexity of issues and programs that focus on them.

We don’t get to presidential politics without first grappling with local and regional governance. This is where political influence and ideology enter the picture. Personalities as well.

Let us be straight about what we do when we vote. We are hiring someone to do the work of our public business. We need to know these folks pretty well if we are hiring them, paying them, and providing long term benefits to them. On top of that, they are spending our money doing our work. This is not nickel and dime funds. These are billions of dollars. Trillions in the case of the federal government.

I do not vote for someone based on how cute or handsome they are. No. I vote for them based on what they know, what their experience has been, and what likelihood they will function in a way that resonates positively with my values.

We need to be serious about our voting behavior. We need to be prepared. We need to attract good people into government services. Into elected offices. That means to attract younger people into this sweep of function as well. Everyone ages. We don’t want all of our elected politicians to be old. That means we have to be determined in getting young people interested in public work and administration. From that come leaders we may elect to public office with appropriate experience for the jobs they wish to be elected to.

We have four years to be ready for the next round of national elections. Only two years to prepare for local and state elections. Are we ready to do this work?

We’d better be.

November 8, 2024