I like talking to people about stuff.  Even (and maybe even especially) if I disagree with them.  Even if you know a person very well you never know when they will say something that will bounce off a random synapse and you’ll see something in a different light or crystalize something for you.

I was over visiting with my parents yesterday.  They live a block away so this isn’t a tale of the journey.  No, I was talking with my mother and she mentioned that she and Dad were watching a re-run of a Council meeting (they must love me a lot to watch a Council re-run) and she observed that there were people speaking in opposition of abortion at almost every meeting.  I nodded my head in ascent – there is normally at least one person that speaks at every meeting.  Then she asked me a question that, for whatever reason, jangled a synapse.  Mom asked if it surprised me that people always show up to address the Council on abortion.

I made up my answer as I went along but I indicated that it doesn’t surprise me that people speak to their elected representatives about things that they are passionate about.  In a rare moment of clarity I added this:  I said that it has always surprised me that nobody shows up to talk about anything else.  I don’t know, maybe I’m overplaying the story but the point is key.

As I indicated, there is at least one person speaking about abortion every meeting.  However, I can only recall one person speaking about schools in the last year.  Three hundred showed up for a meeting on KK’s.  Can’t recall anyone speaking about public safety of any sort.  Slashed spending over the past three years and heard from a single soul at a meeting.  The email volume is about the same which baffles me.  You don’t even have to leave your house to do that.

I guess that if I were to venture an explanation it would be two-fold: The first is that people don’t really know what local government does.  Indeed, it is my belief that if more people knew how government really works that Council meetings would be standing room only and the Federal and State governments would be half their current size.  

Updated: The second part was originally, more or less, laziness.  However, that explanation (as many pointed out in the comments is, well, lazy.  I suppose there isn’t a single theory of everything here and that the truth is closer to what you read in the comments.  Everyday folks have everyday reasons and that’s no bad thing.