Local focus has never been more important
Local governments, people, and infrastructure are more important as American politics are nationalized.
It is inarguable that politics in America are nationalized. The rise of mass media and network news, followed by the smartphone revolution and social media explosion, was inevitably going to lead to interconnectivity. News media needing the biggest audience possible naturally focuses on issues of wide-spread importance to the most people possible. The downside to this change is those national headlines and narratives take up bandwidth that needs to be spent locally.
While not as “television sexy” or internet-trendy as whatever wacky thing Washington is up to on any given day, local government still matters. A lot. City councils and county commissions make decisions that directly affect many aspects of life for the citizens they are charged with overseeing.
At the last census, there are over 89,000 government units functioning in the United States today, doing the vital work that keeps communities going. Though virtually all the work of these local governments are public record, the pincer movement of a decline in local reporting and the nationalization of news media means far too many folks are unaware what the lowest levels of government are supposed…
