I have strong opinions about things I am unwilling to fix. This includes my household, where I have been known to get mad about something I could have handled myself before it became everyone else’s problem.
Personal accountability is annoying when it’s my turn.
Unfortunately, it is our turn.
Today is Election Day, and somewhere in North Carolina, someone is preparing a lengthy Facebook post about everything wrong with the government while deciding they don’t have time to vote.
The post will have paragraphs. There may be screenshots. Research will consist of something their cousin shared, but the conviction will be absolute.
I admire the energy. I would like some of it directed toward a ballot.
Covering local government has given me an appreciation for how much happens while most people are doing something else. It has also introduced me to the peculiar experience of watching a nearly empty meeting room turn into a very crowded online argument.
Sometimes the criticism is deserved. Officials make bad decisions. They explain things poorly. They occasionally seem surprised that people want to know what is happening with the money those same people were required to contribute.
Ask questions. Be upset. Expect answers.
But somewhere between identifying everything wrong and demanding that somebody do something, we have to acknowledge that we are somebody.
Voting will not fix every problem. Neither will whatever we’ve been doing in the comments, but we keep giving that a chance.
I understand being discouraged by the choices. Looking at a ballot can feel like being handed a restaurant menu after someone has removed everything you wanted to eat. You weren’t asking for much, and somehow you’re still disappointed.
Read it anyway.
Find out who these people are. Look at the offices beneath the race you’ve heard about for months. There are candidates asking for authority over your schools, your county’s spending, and decisions you may not think about until you desperately need someone to have made a good one.
An emergency is a terrible time to become interested in how emergency services are funded.
A tax bill is a frustrating introduction to the people who approved the budget.
And yet, those are often the moments when government becomes real to us. Until then, it’s people in a room somewhere, discussing something boring, while we have laundry to do.
I have laundry too. It appears to be reproducing.
But I also live here. So do my children. The decisions being made in those rooms follow us home whether we paid attention or not.
One of the things I love about North Carolina is that people invested in me before I understood what it meant to belong to a community. That changed how I saw this place. It also changed what I felt responsible for giving back.
Across North Carolina, people are doing that work in their own communities. They volunteer, build businesses, organize events, and keep showing up when there is very little recognition and plenty of criticism.
We can help decide who represents them.
Today, polls are open from 6:30 a.m. until 7:30 p.m. Go to your assigned polling place. Bring an acceptable photo ID; if you cannot show one, ask an election official about the exception process. If you’re in line at 7:30 p.m., stay in line.
You don’t have to leave the voting booth feeling inspired. You may still be irritated with the entire process.
That’s fine. I accomplish quite a bit while irritated.
Please go vote. We have spent too much time discussing what everybody else ought to do to skip the part that belongs to us.