Democracy - warts and all - is worth fighting for
Lessons from near and far tell us that elections are won by those who turn up
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I thought Local Government in Australia was broken until I had cause to deal with Brookhaven Town in New York, or as it is colloquially known, Crookhaven.
2 hours into a stint in the waiting room at the sixth district of Suffolk County, watching honest, hardworking Americans being berated by a bunch of kids in their best power suit is showing me the weakness inherent in democracy.
While the teething pains of a level of Government that is essential but broken are annoying to this correspondent, you don't throw the baby out with the bathwater when it comes to the perils of democratic institutions.
And that is the argument that Democrats are trying to make this week as their convention edges towards its conclusion - Democracy is on the ballot in this election - and it is worth fighting for.
As he vacated the stage, both figuratively and literally, on Monday night, Joe Biden called on delegates to work to their last breath to preserve democracy.
For a man who was first elected to political office during the Cold War, to be leaving political office citing the preservation of democracy as the most important task at hand, is remarkable but tragically it is not hyperbole.
In Georgia this week, a hitherto unremarkable institution known as the state elections board has been thrust into the spotlight.
It is a 5-person panel charged with setting the rules around election administration.
The board has been taken over by Trump acolytes vowing to do all they can to ensure the election is 'free and fair', read: their guy wins!
The three random local MAGA acolytes who have joined the board are unremarkable absent their loyalty to the Trump cause and their willingness to spend a big chunk of their free time on the frontlines of a political war.
They have introduced a range of new processes that impinge on the certification process and throw into question whether, should Harris win Georgia, the election results would be certified without delay.
The takeover of this local board and the power trip of my local town officials has something in common: the pulpits of power go to those who turned up.
Elections at the local level, whether they be for local county judge, school board, town clerk or even state election board, are rarely overcome with candidates.
Similarly, voter turnout in these kinds of races is comically low.
While the glitz and glamour of a Presidential election might catch our eye, the power being wielded by those lower down the totem pole often has a real and measurable impact on our lives, whether we realize it or not.
So as much as I might complain and bang my head against the wall of Brookhaven Town's local courthouse, you don't have to be Joe Biden to do your part to preserve democracy.
You just have to turn up, or as Michelle Obama impressed upon the country on Tuesday night, just 'do something'
What can you do?
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