does it really matter?

Sometimes I come home from meetings and collapse in my favorite chair and ask myself:

Does it really matter?

You try to uphold certain principles. You try to uphold the rights of the people to participate in their government but when the opportunity....let me correct that, when the hard-fought, costly-won opportunity is presented to participate ....well....nobody shows up. And you find yourself slumping in the chair and wondering, "what the hell am I doing this for?...better yet WHO the hell am I doing this for?

Tuesday was local election day here. And there was a little, apparently insignificant referendum on the ballot to overturn a City Council Charter Ordinance which changed the position of the City Assessor from an elected position to an appointed position. It passed the Council 8-2. There was a citizen who didn't like that change much less the fact that the Council didn't ask the community if they wanted to make this change, so he utilized the statutory right to circulate a petition to have the issue placed on the April ballot. He didn't go out and recruit a committee. He didn't go out on a crusade to raise funds. He just wrote up a petition (the form was from the City Clerks's Office for free) and went door to door in his neighborhood first and then across other areas of town. Sure enough, he gathered enough signatures to have it placed on the ballot.

After that, he didn't actually campaign for his position. He wrote ONE guest editorial in the local newspaper which was quickly countered by an editorial letter from one of the Alderpersons who supported the change. He didn't spend any money on it. He just put his case before the voters.

And he won.

He won by better than a 2-1 margin.

The Council's decision is vacated. The ordinance is defeated.

Because of one citizen.

So I guess I answered my own question. I'm "doing it" because

ONE PERSON CAN AND OFTEN DOES MAKE A DIFFERENCE