I recently took a trip to Washington DC. While there, I had a renewed sense of civic duty and statesmanship. Local and Federal politics has actually been an interest of mine over the last year (or four) and so when I returned to my neighborhood I began to look again at the structures that are in place in my district.
While in D.C. I kept thinking, did I miss this day of school, or just not comprehend how the network of public offices works to represent the United States public? Those pictured above all have some kind of influence in my life, whether I am aware of it or not. I thought it would be best to take a bit more interest in what they do and how they think. (Perhaps, just in time. There is a community board meeting coming up soon that will discuss a massive construction plan near to where I live.)
It may not be a perfect system, but what I am learning is that if citizens don’t engage in the process of local and federal politics, there is no hope for it to work. It is both my optimism for my fellow-man and my values in administrative structures that supports this view, but hopefully those who think and feel differently will still participate!
“You’re either part of the solution or part of the problem.” – Eldridge Cleaver, 1968