So, I thought I was going to have more time to keep this updated over the holidays. Alas, I was wrong. Sorry about that. Onto today's topic!
If you run in activist circles, surely you've heard from non-voters something like this: "Voting doesn't matter! Vote for red or blue, it doesn't matter, the police state rages on!"
I'm not here to refute that argument. I choose, personally, to vote in federal elections because there are domestic policy differences on small things like birth control and healthcare generally that I prefer the dems over. But on the vast majority of issues yes, the parties are very similar. But when it comes down to it, your vote for president really doesn't count anyway unless you live in a swing state. Which is why while I vote for President, last year I voted for Jill Stein.
I digress. Because I'm genuinely not here to tell you to vote in federal elections. I'm here to tell you to vote local.
Local elections seem to be one of those things that people don't talk about. Last election cycle, a woman was elected to my local school board whose entire campaign was "I made a mistake by running, please do not vote for me, I endorse ________". Take a moment to let that sink in. Someone was elected who didn't even want the job.
It's much harder to get worked up about local elections than federal elections. Because seriously, school boards and mayors and judges are boring and really hard to research and half of them don't even have talking point websites! But lets think for a moment about your local elected officials. Not even state officials, I'm talking your mayor, city council, school board, and local judges.
They decide: how your child's education shall be accomplished, what curfew hours are, whether there's a local sales tax, the quality of your libraries, which streets get improvement projects, where new major developments are allowed to open, homelessnesss policy and finally (in the case of elected judges) who goes to jail and who goes to rehab/probation/community service.
These things sound boring, but they affect you and those you care about on a daily basis. So it really is worth taking the time to research these people, go to their campaign events to hear them speak, and/or email their offices asking questions. The thing about local elections is that local politicians are generally accessible if you know where to look.
Now, onto state elections. These are biggies on a lot of issues you probably care about. For instance, do you think selling $30 worth of pot should land you ten years in prison or should be totally legal with the right permit? That's a matter of state law. Do you think it's lane-splitting is crazy dangerous? Well it's legal in California. In Santa Cruz, construction projects can make noise through the night, but if your blender is too loud at 5am your neighbors can call the police. Criminal sentencing, prison policy, gay marriage, state college cost, K-12 education funding, property taxes, sales taxes, healthcare subsidies, and a host of other things are decided by your state government.
None of these people can stop the NSA or the CIA or the FBI or the DHS or GitMo or any of the rest of the military industrial alphabet soup. But that's why we're having this conversation. Because who you vote for for president isn't going to stop those things either. I'm not asking you to forget federal & international issues. I'm asking you not to forget local issues.
Fight the good fight. Rally and be aware of federal and global issues. But when it comes down to it, it's state & local judges who are putting brown people behind bars; it's local prison policy that has women giving birth in chains. Stand your ground is state-by-state law. State laws are the difference between gay marriage and being fired for being gay. Stop and frisk is a city code. While theoretically your right to an abortion was determined by the supreme court, in reality state law can severely limit your ability to have an abortion.
Think Global, Vote Local. Make a real difference on issues you care about.
