Should people have a say in the
candidates, policies or leadership of a group to which they do not belong?
No.
“Not fair,” you say?
Consider: there are NO especially
independent voters. ALL voters in this country are independent, in the sense
that no one holds a gun to anybody’s head forcing them to vote a certain way.
There are unaffiliated voters.
These are people who for one reason or another decide not to affiliate with a
group. On Election Day they have a voice
of one.
Do you prefer to address the BIG
PICTURE or LITTLE PICTURE, the political or the social?
To begin with, a political party
is an organization or club. If you want
a say in its decisions, join it. But
non-members are bound by the decisions, just as non-residents and non-citizens
still follow our laws even if they didn’t have a say in passing them.
If you want a say in the
leadership and policies of a group then join the group.
The four officially-recognized
political parties in Arizona welcome all new members who meet their
qualifications. And there is a way to
work your way up through the organization to have greater and greater
influence.
·
- Go to area meetings of your chosen party.
- · Get the signatures of 10 neighbors and become a member of a neighborhood Precinct Committee.
- · Run for office in your district.
- · Attend county conventions.
- · Become a member of the state party.
- · Go to a state convention.
- · Run for a statewide party office.
- · Recruit other like-minded voters.
- · Raise money.
- · Become a delegate to your party’s national convention.
On a personal level it has taken
me nearly six years to go through most of those 10 steps. You can, too.
And then, if you don’t like what’s going on in the party that you
joined, you are in the wrong party. Form
your own. But don’t tell me how to run
mine.
Do you want a non-political
example? How about your place of
work? I’ll bet that you have management
or employee meetings where decisions are made.
Sometimes these decisions affect some segment of the public –customers,
patrons or readers.
Think of the daily meeting at my
favorite newspaper or tv station, when editors decide what stories get put on
page one, or lead the evening telecast and so on. Do I get a
voice?
NO.
My choices are: Read the
newspaper or watch the tv news that they produce, become a stockholder and buy
my way up the chain of command. Get a
job at the paper or tv station and work my way up the chain of command. Or don’t read the paper or watch the tv news.
As to clubs in general, consider
your local Girl Scout or Boy Scout organization. They have adult committees; they have Scout
troops and patrols. Do I get a voice in
the leadership or policies, even though I live half-a-mile away?
No. Not unless I join. Yes, non-parents are welcome.
I belong to another civic group
with the same requirements: You want a voice? You want a vote? It’s the same with the Kiwanis, Rotary, Elks,
Masons, American Legion and every other civic organization.
In the political arena, often
people say that they want to vote in places where they are not part of the
electorate.
For instance, there are lots of
people who are bound by our nation’s laws who do not get to participate in the
making of those laws. They aren’t part
of the electorate.
Examples are tourists, business
travelers, minors, un-registered adults and, yes, felons. They didn’t write the
law but they must obey it.
If they want to effect change in
the country they need to join the ranks and becomes citizens.
Likewise, coast-to-coast drivers
must obey all kinds of laws that where adopted without their consent –or even
knowledge. They aren’t part of the electorate in those places.
On a local level, when driving
between Scottsdale and Phoenix I try to skirt the Town of Paradise Valley
because I don’t like the way they enforce their traffic laws. But when I must use Lincoln Road through the
middle of the town of Paradise Valley I am subject to its traffic laws.
I’m not part of the electorate in
Paradise Valley. If I want to change
the law in the Town of Paradise Valley I need to register to vote in Paradise
Valley.
I figure that by now you’ve got
the idea: Join a group in order to have a say in its candidates, policies or
leadership. It’s called civic
engagement.
