“All politics is local” is one of the most widely quoted political anecdotes. Many attribute it to former speaker of the house Thomas “Tip” O’Neill who represented northern Boston from 1953 to 1987. There are so many things to focus on in politics right now and it’s hard to distinguish between what’s important and what’s not. However, O’Neill certainly has a point about local politics. In this age of heightened political engagement, we should shift our focus from looking toward the White House onto what’s going on in our local governments. Local lawmakers actually wind up having a greater impact on our day-to-day lives than federal laws. Unless you are part of a political family or a reality TV show star, the most common way to become a nationally relevant political figure is to become a community leader in local government or within the local economy. The positions that should be monitored are city council seats, mayor races, state legislature and, of course, gubernatorial seats.
Honestly, it’s hard to pay attention to local races. They’re not nearly as attractive as national politics and they might seem inconsequential. After these lawmakers are elected, they only times I ever really hear about them or pay attention to them are when they do something bizarre, which goes viral on YouTube. In 2012 an Illinois state senator went ballistic, yelling “let my people go” in front of the State Senate. In 2011, Florida State Rep. Ritch Workman fought to repeal a longstanding law on “dwarf tossing.” These absurdities are how myself, and many others, perceive local government and state houses. However, state legislatures are far more productive in producing legislature than Congress and have a lot less public oversight.
The national Congress passes around 758 bills per session on average, but in 2014, state legislatures passed around 24,000 bills. Of course, some of these bills are meaningless and reinforce the the absurd stereotypes surrounding local government. For example, in Missouri, House Bill 1603 declares “jumping jacks” the official state exercise. Yet, it is important to note that despite the weirdness that can happen at a state level, local governments and state legislators are also referred to as “laboratories for democracy.” Perhaps the most important federal legislation of our time, gay marriage, started within state houses. The fight to raise the minimum wage also started within state houses as well as marijuana legalization and the next major issue of our time — tuition-free college. State governments are certainly a telling indicator of larger national trends.
The lack of oversight surrounding local government officials and state legislators is not limited to lack of media coverage. When it comes to conflicts of interest, lawmakers are generally held to an honor code. The onus is on them and with the public widely unaware of their actions within their houses of government, it would be incredibly easy to have a conflict of interest and not be held accountable.
Perhaps I was naive in assuming that in our progressive haven of Massachusetts, our state government would be transparent and ethically sound. However, in 2015 the Center for Public Integrity gave Massachusetts a D+ for state integrity. That same year, the Boston Globe ran an article titled “What’s your government up to? It’s harder than you might think to find out” revealing that in the Massachusetts state house “all the important stuff was worked out ahead of time, behind closed doors” and “the Legislature has exempted itself from the state’s public records and open meetings laws.” In an age where people are watching C-SPAN like it’s ESPN to see what the federal government is up to, the public should be outraged at how opaque state governments have the potential to be.
There is a paradoxical relationship between how state governments influence our everyday lives and how much we as a public can access them. Going forward, we should demand transparency from our state legislature. Furthermore, we should pay greater attention to those races that may seem inconsequential, because lest we forget former President Barack Obama started as a state senator.
