I used to be fascinated by politics. I used to have things to say about running mates and speeches and taking sides on issues. Politics used to be interesting. Now, the national races are all a show and the local races don't get much air or print time. There's nothing I could say that hasn't already been said to death. The pundits killed my will to pontificate. Nothing is a mystery in national politics anymore. New goal: learn more about the local politics, which is where public service matters most. That will take some digging. As a newspaper with national prominence, the Washington Post features mostly national and world news on its main web page. But the shadow senate race is interesting, and I just got my brochure on the local primaries happening September 9th, so there's much to learn. So the Local button on the WaPo website will be getting more of a workout, and there are surely plenty of locally focused websites out there, catching the news the mainstream media miss. In a town where people mostly pay attention to only the Capitol Hill gang, where DC residents pay taxes but have no real national representation (even our license plates proclaim that conundrum), local politics couldn't be more important. The pundits have yet to beat that dead horse.
Here's what I have learned so far: in local races, some younger people, inspired mostly by the Obama campaign, have started to run for seats in the D.C. Democratic State Committee. But they're being hampered by old school pols who don't want to let new faces in. They complain that the newcomers don't even know which ward represents them (oops, I don't know that either...). After that story was published, D.C. Democratic Party spokesperson David Meadows responded with this letter to the editor. It will be interesting to follow this story and other local races, both Democrats and Republicans. U.S. Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton appears occasionally on the Colbert Report, and she's pushing hard for D.C. voting rights, but the D.C. Democratic party's push on the national party platform is at odds with the D.C. Green party's push for statehood. So that will be an interesting fight as well. Stay tuned for more.
