Local government closest to ideals of country’s founders

It was my privilege to photograph elected officials of the Town of Pope this week, just as we hope to make photos at the swearing in ceremonies for all the elected officials of Panola municipalities as new terms begin following this year’s election cycle.
I say privilege because the more I have watched the governments of our towns through the lens of reporting for this newspaper, the more I realize that this is where democracy still resembles what the founders of this country intended. What we now see in the national and state governments are “corporatocracy” at best, “idiocracy” at worst, fueled by really big money and egos even larger.
The Panolian deals with what might be called “micro-governments.” Pope’s population in the most recent census is just over 200 folks. Batesville’s, the largest municipality we cover, around 7,000. But actions by the mayors and aldermen in our towns, as well as the supervisors in our county, often have more direct impact on our individual lives than those enacted further up in government hierarchy.
These people make decisions about our water, sewer, garbage collection, sanitation, mosquito and vector control, whether we can let our dogs run loose and what happens when we let them run loose and they kill the neighbor’s cat.
It is all local and all personal. In our rural county and small towns it is unlikely that a citizen who comes before a local governing body will not be kin with or friends with at least one person on that board. The pressure on the elected official under those circumstances can be as great as that on a Congressman faced with a vote that affects a big campaign donor.
Nevertheless, they get the business of local government done. It seldom suits every constituent and sometimes it suits none. It is frequently awkward and rough around the edges, but local government remains closer to the ideal of a republican democracy than governments of larger jurisdiction.
At least once every four years, we need to stop and think about not only those elected, but also the ones who have served and decided not to seek re-election, the ones who were unsuccessful in their re-election bids and those who ran and just got beat.
This is democracy at grass roots. It is equally important as what goes on in Jackson or Washington and perhaps moreso.