Comment on Town Voter Turnout
D Head
2008-05-08 16:41:24
Jerry Becket, who lost a town council seat candidacy on Tuesday’s election, is quoted as saying, “It’s not about the people anymore. It’s about how the county board of supervisors and the town council can protect their kingdoms.” I agree. I think that government in the United States has forgotten its purpose; that it ultimately serves to protect the rights of the people, and not agendas of growth, or power or corporations or whatever – things that usually do not have the interests of ordinary citizens at heart. However, I am deeply disgusted that only 1,261 voters out of 7,086 registered voters of the town turned out to make their voices heard, to have a say in how elected officials conduct the administration of their town, their taxes, their services, their businesses. How can a democracy work in the absence of the people who make it up? How can a government be for the people when the people do not tell the government how it can be of service to them? I am now of the opinion that Culpeper town citizens deserve whatever it is that the town council metes out to them. 5,825 people have made a choice to let their elected officials govern without their input. They have made a choice to watch their televisions rather than take part in their community – a community that belongs to them and that they neglect. I hope that when this town council makes decisions that these citizens may view as furthering the agenda of the kingdom rather than serving the needs of the people that they know where the blame firmly belongs – on their own shoulders.