Democracy Inaction

One of the basic tenets of a democratic society is the individual's right to vote, and the importance of that vote in the political process. Now we must confront the fact that in Gainesville, and in our Congress, people just don't want to vote. What does it tell you about the courage of our legislators in Congress when they seek to impose an unpopular and potentially disastrous health care plan on America without voting on it? What does it tell you about the apathy of voters in Gainesville when fewer than 15% go to the polls on a beautiful spring day to vote for a new mayor, the highest elected office in the city? 

Compare this to the more than 60% of Iraqis who braved suicide bombers, death threats, and sporadic gunfire to vote in their national election last week. Maybe if Americans had to live in Iraq for a while they'd take more interest in their democracy and appreciate their freedom. Ultimately we will get the government we deserve. The current situation in Washington looks like our just reward.

On the local scene the good news is that Don Marsh is in the mayoral runoff. Conventional political wisdom is that anyone who didn't vote for Craig Lowe should vote for Marsh in the runoff. Hopefully that will happen, but the turnout for the runoff will be even smaller and small turnouts lead to skewed results. 

The larger issue for Gainesville is the cost, both politically and financially, of having city elections in the spring, separate from other elections. I think we can safely say that the argument that city elections will get lost on the state/national election ballot is trumped by the fact that city elections are being ignored anyway - at great expense to city government. Unless, of course, you don't really want to know what the majority of city residents think. 

"All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing."    Edmund Burke