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Ppl prefer to believe we always and ever have a govt of one because it’s less taxing on their own civic responsibilities. And because they can conjure ‘fascism’ when it doesn’t exist but they clearly pine for it. https://twitter.com/zaidjilani/status/1300229046324924417
A big problem is that ignorance like this is probably more prevalent in the media and campaign politics than anywhere else. Message:
Pretending local gov't doesn't exist wishes away most of what actually controls your way of life. A lot of ppl like living like this. As a former local reporter, I find it abhorrent. But ppl prefer to call the president a fascist than to vote on the school district's budget.
And I don't mean Trump when I say 'the president' I mean whoever the president happens to be. I covered local politics when Obama was president too, as well as Bush. And it seemed that nothing gave ppl more pleasure than calling them fascist.
You know what kind of turnout the school budget votes got? 7%. You know what decided your tax burden that year? The school budget. You know which was the only municipal budget you could actually vote on? The school budget.
Often the school board elections were held on the same day. So nobody went to the polls when they had the chance to *literally reject* the school district's proposed budget and to pick who would be making those decisions in the future.
Americans don't actually take politics seriously at all. The NJ town I moved here from spent its time and energy on banning fracking. So snow and ice piled up, garbage piled up, power lines kept bursting into flames. But don't worry, no one went digging in their backyard.
You can try to fix the schools for the sake of your children and their future, or you can buy a 'Hate has no home here' sign in five languages and call it a day. Guess what people tend to choose?
Participatory democracy only works you remember that first word. And self-government is worthless if you spend all your time rigging the discourse so you can evade any responsibility for your choices.
