Academy of Local Politics

I was driving along yesterday and I saw a group of young children. There must have been 30 of them, all dressed in matching T-shirts. They were walking down the sidewalk in perfect order. Obviously, a daycare center outing of some kind.

I thought to myself, that would make a cute picture. I'm not big time into "cute pictures" but every now and then.

I reached for my camera...

then thought...

if I get seen taking pictures of young children...

I could end up being questioned by the police.

It must be something I drank. What else would explain two days in a row ...writing like a grumpy old man?

Yesterday I criticized T-ball baseball and today I will take on another time honored tradition, the dunking tank.

It is summertime and across the nation local officials are getting dunked in the dunk tank as they are in Hammonton, NJ.

Several local officials have volunteered to get dunked this week at the Hammonton Fire Department’s dunk tank during the Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Festival here.

Fire chief Michael Ruberton said Friday that the department has put out the invitation to all local political figures to participate.

Among the first to commit were Atlantic County Freeholder Jim Curcio, Hammonton Councilman Jerry Vitalo and Hammonton Board of Education Vice President Joe Giralo.

“Anything I can do to help raise money for the fire department,” Giralo said.

“They asked me and it’s definitely for a good cause,” Vitalo said.

The fire department will also hold its annual Harley Davidson raffle at a table next to the tank. The festival, which is now in its 133rd year, runs through Sunday.

In addition to local officials, members of the Hammonton Fire Department will also participate in getting dunked.

Dunk tanks. I would rather do another Jail and Bail, and I won't do those either.

Local Officials... you don't have to do those things. You can if you want to, but you don't have to.

I guarantee that your next election does not hinge on if you agree to go in a dunk tank.

Don't give in to peer pressure.

Just say "NO"...and maybe they will go away.

I was walking around Indian Mounds Park the other day. My favorite all time park. A short block and a half from where I grew up. This is a picture of one of the mounds. See that dirt path. There is a story behind that dirt path.

Forty five to fifty years ago the mounds in the park were used by kids on bicycles to ride up and down. Fast.

It wasn't head to head racing, it was a timed race against yourself. Only we didn't really keep time either. We just raced over those mounds again and again and again as fast as we could go. So much so it wore a path down on the mounds.

One day when I was about 11,  we went down to the park and there were railroad ties placed on top of the mounds. We couldn't ride up and down? Who put those railroad ties on the mounds?

I was told "The City" put them there. "The City" didn't want us riding our bikes up and down the burial grounds.

It was the first time I had ever heard about "The City". I didn't even know that level of government existed. I knew about the federal government and the state government but not anything about the local government ... until this.

The railroad ties remained on top of those mounds until just the past few years when they were removed. Kids didn't ride bikes around town anymore like they use to. The ties could be removed.

But the dirt path? The dirt path that was worn into the mounds over 50 years ago remains. Amazing!

Of the three different levels of government  I grew to be the most fascinated with the local level of government ...and it all started with this dirt path forty nine years ago. Makes the place kind of special to me.

As for my thoughts if we should allow bicycles to go up and down burial grounds?

I wouldn't care if it were me down there.

We are being expected to believe that the ever elusive Young Adult vote is going to be very active this year in the Presidential election.

The Traveler, the newspaper of the University of Arkansas wrote an excellent editorial urging their students to look past the Presidential election and also focus on the State and Local level.

All the presidential candidates this year are talking about the need for change, and most Americans seem to agree. But, you can't expect one elected official to change your life. 

How true. In my talks to groups, I explain what I call the Tower of Strength. The fact is, of the 511,000 elected officials in our country, over 96% of them are Local Elected Officials. The basic foundation of our government.

Moving up the Tower of Strength is the State elected officials and at the top is the National elected officials.

Anyone who thinks that fixing the roof because you have a leaky basement will work, is sure to be disappointed.

Not only do the actions of our smaller governing bodies often have a more direct effect on our daily lives, our votes also have a more direct effect when it comes to electing those governing officials. There is no electoral college or confusing delegate count, only your vote and the vote of the people around you. And, because fewer people vote in state and local elections, each vote has much more of an impact...

If you really want to see change, you have to get involved.

I hope this editorial touches at least one student. When I speak on this subject of starting at the bottom of the Tower of Strength and moving up from there, that is my goal... I want to get one more person involved. 

General Bill Creech said, "Think big about what you can achieve, think small about how to achieve it."

Winning the war against local political apathy can only be won by thinking small about how to achieve it. In the trenches...one at a time.

I'll be leaving soon and heading out for a short two-day road trip.

This afternoon I will be addressing a gathering of citizens in Marshfield discussing Citizens Against Apathy.

Then, tomorrow morning I will be the guest speaker at a joint meeting of five districts, of the Municipal Treasurers Association of Wisconsin. The topic of that speech is the "People Side of Local Government".

Have mouth, will travel.