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Morals, ethics and character play a major role in everyone’s life, not just personal but in business and school as well. It also extends to the dealings that we have with those whom we don’t have contact with on a daily, weekly, monthly or even yearly basis.
Some of my personal values (morals) include: fair play, compassion, empathy and being accountable. This is what I believe in for every single human being. Do I expect everyone else to believe or value these same things? Of course not, but yet it is imperative that our elected officials at least have a sense of fair play, because they are elected to do what is in their constituents’ best interests.
A constituent is a person who is being represented at a higher level of government by someone that person may or may not have voted to be represented by. According to a Google search for “constituent”, it means (as an adjective) being part of a whole or as a member of a group or organization who has the power to elect/appoint or (as a noun) a component part of something.
So, what does this all have to do with me/you? As a citizen of voting age, regardless of whether or not you actually vote in every election, regardless of whether or not your voting privilege was taken away from you due to being sent to jail or prison, you have the proper authority to hold those elected officials accountable.
How, you may ask? Well, quite simply: become involved. I’m not suggesting that you run for political office, although that certainly is one way of being involved. However, what I’m suggesting is that once a month, go to your political party’s monthly meeting and listen to what is going on.
Ask questions. If there’s something that you personally disagree with on some level, speak up. If there’s something that you believe could be done differently, talk to the chair(wo)man.
Find out who your council person is, and keep in touch with them regarding things in your city that need to be corrected. If you live in a rural area, such as I, begin attending your county commission meetings.
I would imagine that even small towns and villages have council meetings as well as finance meetings, which voters can attend. These are (or should be) open to the public. Finance meetings may be held bi-weekly rather than monthly, however.
To start becoming involved, contact your village hall/town/city hall and ask when the next council meeting is, and where. They may even be able to tell you when and where the county commission meeting will be held so that you can make plans to attend.
Before anything else, this is not going to happen if we, as citizens, do not take things into our own hands. It is imperative that we make our elected officials remember who pays their salaries, and that we are the ones that need to be calling the shots. It cannot be Big Pharma, Monsanto, Oil/Gas Industries, Insurance Lobbyists, to name but a few. So therefore, if you have nothing else going on on a Tuesday evening, head to your council meeting. You’ll meet lots of new people and possibly make some new friends along the way! Just by becoming involved and becoming more politically aware!
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This post was originally published on https://lmhansen2018.wordpress.com and is republished here with permission from the author.
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Photo credit: Getty Images