Is there any civic culture left in The North Pacific? Have we really returned to something like the dark days of the early 2010s? Has apathy come to spread around us and render our votes mere shrugs and smiling nods? The lack of engagement with the candidates might make some sense, considering there really aren’t any. But surely we can still demonstrate some standards with the ones we have.
TNP cannot claim to be a robust democracy when we don’t exercise curiosity or judgment over the officials who seek our support. This election is hardly alone in this regard but it’s clear this is a pattern and not an abberation. The body politic is unhealthy. It may be that I am yelling at clouds and nothing will be changed as a result of this limp shaking of a fist. But I will employ the only move available to me and advocate that we reopen nominations and give this another try. Perhaps some sit on the fence and choose not to proceed because they fear they will lose. Honestly, those people are probably right - but so what? There is value in a contest, even one with a likely conclusion. Plenty of careers have been started off of failed bids for office. The competition is healthy and lens itself to debate. It offers practice and experience to players who may not be ready yet, but may be ready in the future.
Sooner rather than later all the old people who have been here forever will be gone and the rest of you will remain. You can waste your entire time here waiting to be ready and never get there, or you can take some risks and put in some effort and get on your way to the next step.
Reopen nominations, and let’s see who is willing to step up and begin that journey. Who will grind and possibly be ground up to refresh the blood of our region’s civic culture? If the answer is no one, at least we will know and can say that we tried to demand more of this essential process, that we made an effort to take it as seriously as we could. No one will doubt that we chose this outcome. But I’d rather not be asking what if.
TNP cannot claim to be a robust democracy when we don’t exercise curiosity or judgment over the officials who seek our support. This election is hardly alone in this regard but it’s clear this is a pattern and not an abberation. The body politic is unhealthy. It may be that I am yelling at clouds and nothing will be changed as a result of this limp shaking of a fist. But I will employ the only move available to me and advocate that we reopen nominations and give this another try. Perhaps some sit on the fence and choose not to proceed because they fear they will lose. Honestly, those people are probably right - but so what? There is value in a contest, even one with a likely conclusion. Plenty of careers have been started off of failed bids for office. The competition is healthy and lens itself to debate. It offers practice and experience to players who may not be ready yet, but may be ready in the future.
Sooner rather than later all the old people who have been here forever will be gone and the rest of you will remain. You can waste your entire time here waiting to be ready and never get there, or you can take some risks and put in some effort and get on your way to the next step.
Reopen nominations, and let’s see who is willing to step up and begin that journey. Who will grind and possibly be ground up to refresh the blood of our region’s civic culture? If the answer is no one, at least we will know and can say that we tried to demand more of this essential process, that we made an effort to take it as seriously as we could. No one will doubt that we chose this outcome. But I’d rather not be asking what if.
