The last example illustrates how our officials are sold on the idea that any development benefits the community. Seldom does anyone sit down with a calculator and fill in the costs and benefits columns. The CEO of the downtown redevelopment agency, Nancy Graham, recently told reporters: "We don't get into the financial analysis, and neither does the city."
Yesterday, Francine Busby sent out an email wondering aloud whether San Diego could become "A Democratic Powerhouse". It recounted a recent meeting in which
Party Chairman, Jess Durfee laid out strategic plans to increase and mobilize Democratic voters and elect Democrats who will work for high quality education, energy independence, affordable housing, access to healthcare and other progressive priorities.
All of those, without a doubt, are important tent issues with national, state and local implications. And while I might be unfairly critical, it sounds a lot like what sank Busby in her congressional race. Big, national, non-specific ideas without providing me any inkling of what it would look like day-to-day in my life. San Diego as a Democratic area isn't as crazy as it sounds. There are four congressional districts, 2 Democratic, 2 Republican. The 50th is competitive, which tips the scorecard 2-1-1 if we're talking about demographic makeup. But that also means that the county Democratic party isn't fighting too many tough Congressional races. The County party is going to be involved exclusively in GOTV for state elections because, at least in the near future, that's all the SD Democratic Party will be asked to do from state-level campaigns. So what will it do locally? Assembly, State Senate, City Council, Mayor and offices on down the line need to be strongly contested and/or defended, but when will the party actually take up the cause of accountability?
This is a tricky line for a party to tread. Turning on the people you got elected to be representatives of YOUR party is tough to say the least. But if the Democratic Party isn't the party of accountability, then what else can it be that will ultimately matter? If it isn't the party providing the mechanism to actually get good things done, then as all these young people awake to politics and want to get involved, why would they use the party?
There are lots of reasons why public and party officials would overlook important aspects of this stuff, ranging from the well-meaning to the nefarious. Maybe they have bad advice, or just a flawed perspective on the situation. Maybe they just don't have time to read through everything, and have to delegate to a staffer who misses the boat. Maybe they're looking forward to another nice campaign check from the beneficiaries of their actions. Maybe it's a healthy dose of condescending contempt for the general population. Either way, it's becoming increasingly obvious that the more pressure is placed on government officials, the more responsive they end up being. That applies whether it's blog posts, MoveOn petitions, letters to your Congressperson, organizing primary challenges, or anything in between. The end result is that our government is held mroe responsible and forced to be more responsive.
Now, the stuff in Baxamusa's blog post isn't sexy. It's not exciting, and it isn't the stuff that mass movements are made of. But it's the day-to-day stuff that adds up to quality of life. And it's not that difficult to change. It can be difficult to find an audience for local and state issues at times, but you don't need Obama's million Facebook friends to make a big impact. For the hundreds or thousands of calls that might be required to get noticed on a national issue, I'd imagine getting five or ten people in one day to express an opinion on a San Diego development project would knock the city council right out of their collective socks. It's all a matter of degrees.
Not all places are like San Diego, where the general levels of political awareness and involvement are pretty low. It's not a tough bar to clear if you want to get involved and make an impact. But even in places where civic participation is already a big part of the game, infrastructure gets built by local issues. We chide our candidates to campaign on local issues, because that's what resonates. But too often we forget the implications of such an outlook.
If we want a 50-State Strategy, a 58-County Strategy, generally a party that reflects the people it aspires to represent, local issues ARE the infrastructure. A party that's involved all day, every day is the party who's there to push these issues, because the party that can mobilize people and support their efforts to demand accountability and responsibility from their local government is the party that has the system in place when the national elections come around.
We talk often about changing the party. Not wholesale, not violently or radically (crashingly?), but making it stronger by making it more able to use the power available to it. Right now, too often, our local governments just aren't getting the job done. It's not a partisan problem (members of both parties have shown the ability to be bad at their jobs), but a Democratic Party that is not just progressive, not just people-powered, but people-oriented, can provide the support for people to demand better. And when it comes down to it, that's what I want from my party and it's what I've found more of in blogging: I want my demands to be loud enough to be heard.
No comments:
Post a Comment