In the vacuum of declining media coverage, politicians have been left in some circles to their own devices. In the last few months, many a fire fighter has stood by and watched the Lacey City Council conduct meetings and workshops largely to an empty room and some of the discussion and topics seem to be more theatrical then actually discussing or working on issues at hand. The function of the Lacey City Council will be a topic for another day, or god willing, a moot point in weeks. But the concern today is about public involvement and interest…if no one is listening or being involved in the political process and we don’t provide input to our elected representatives, what happens?
Our organization, or “union” for the “Stereotypers”, used to only have moderate interest in elections. The hope was that “common sense” would prevail and that the decisions that came down or impacted our lives were transparent and well intentioned. For years we really didn’t collect money for campaigns, had a marginal interest in who was elected, and simply believed that public life safety would be a political priority…Wow, its amazing to look at our organization now and compare our past to our present thanks to the misguided intentions of just a few people at city hall.
We want to make it known, that whether we are a “union” or not, we are a group of people who have seen the light and understand that the irrational decisions of a few in the wrong places can ruin everything. Democracy is both a gift and a curse in that it is dependant on competent leadership and informed constituency. Leaving politicians to their devices and privacy in the “Taj-ma city hall” is over and that for ever we have a vested interest in making sure that the public is aware of the councils decisions and that we do our best to prevent those who do not prioritize safety and health institutions.
Undoubtedly, there are those who will be unhappy with our new found involvement in the political process, but what alternatives do we have? We have already found that the substitute process for informing the public in declining commercial media presence is ultimately going to be us and other “groups” like us now and in the future. We also believe that the changing political landscape in Thurston County will bring all new battlefields and perhaps a new level of political scrutiny that will rival anything we ever had before… All hail the little man with a computer, an Internet connection, and a political will.
Did you know that 3 more city council members are up for election in 2011? That’s like 100 weeks away for their respective campaigns…Time to start saving money.