Today is Town Meeting Day in Vermont. It’s a state holiday, so some workers (not all) have the day off to participate in, essentially, an annual meeting of their town. Some items of substance are discussed (budgets, elected officials) but many people describe it as a community-wide social activity.
I’m thinking about two things on this day. The first, that many formerly-elected officials (Al Gore, Evan Bayh) have said that the politic arena isn’t the place to get things done anymore.
The second, this quote I came across from Plato: “Those who are too smart to engage in politics are punished by being governed by those who are dumber.” I haven’t been able to substantiate this quote, and whether Plato would use the word “dumber”! But let’s just stick to the idea behind the quote for now.
I’m not knocking Town Meeting Day, but for the sake of some civic reflection, I’d like to offer these questions:
- What in our communities and in our society needs to get done?
- What entities can best get those things done?
- If you answered “government,” how would you rate your local, state, and national governments in their effectiveness?
- If you answered “business,” how would you rate your local businesses versus national or multi-national businesses in their effectiveness?
- If you answered “community,” how are you defining community? And how would you rate its effectiveness?
Now here’s what else I wonder:
When effectiveness (i.e. power) shifts from one entity to another, where does that leave the other entities? This begs the question of why some of our nation’s brightest and most creative individuals are leaving politics or not even entering in the first place.
I don’t have clear answers to these questions myself. I answer them differently for different situations. But I struggle with the questions and answers and I think they’re of prime importance: when power shifts we need to take notice.
Photo credit: Vermont Photo Mag
