Yep, it's true.

The fallout from the election, the way the President has been acting, even the snit that some of the members have been in the past few days. This has all rubbed me the wrong way.

In short, I just about stopped feeling that I belonged here and could make any kind of useful contribution anymore. I had posted earlier in the week something that Abraham Lincoln had said..."The world will little note nor long remember what we say here." Increasingly, it sure feels like there's an air of futility around here.



But then there's something a former speaker of the house said..."All politics is local".

If we can't influence the House, Senate, or White House anymore....what can we do at the local level? I've been involved in my community in one form or another since I moved to Waltham after getting married. I have every intention of running for office again next year, and of course my lifelong work with the youth of this city continues unabated.

All of these things are important. More importantly, these are things that I have some control over. If I don't like what's happening in the neighborhood...I can walk one block over and knock on my Ward Counselor's door and see what's going on. If I'm having problems with the city....I know the Mayor from my work with the Scouts, and two members of city council have boys in my Scout Troop right now. If something is happening at the State Level...I can see my State Rep's house out my front window.

These are the things that matter. The reality is you or I or anyone we know is not going to influence national policy. We're not power-brokers, lobbyists, or multi-millionaires. Joe Citizen simply doesn't matter in Washington anymore.

But Joe Citizen DOES matter on your street. Joe matters at City Hall...and sometimes Joe still matters in the State House too.

So whether or not we still support the President...hell, whether or not we still support the Democrats, sometimes it might be good to take a step away from the national stage and see what's going on in your neck of the woods. While I can't speak for other areas of the country, I often felt that Waltham was unusual at the local level in that our elections are "non-partisan". Meaning that party affiliation is not listed on the ballot, nor is it allowed on local campaign signs. You could imagine my surprise when I found out that a candidate that I'm friendly with, and have supported in the past, turned out to be a Republican. (State Senator.) Alas, I found out later she was the tooly sort (really, who isn't?), but that hasn't kept us from remaining civil and agreeing to disagree.

In some ways, it feels to me like we need to rebuild this country from the ground up; Washington is too deeply entrenched in special interests to even care anymore. So take Tip O'Neill's words to heart; do something for your community and encourage others to do so. Trickle-down didn't work....but would Trickle-up, if enough people care?