This year, we are bracing for changes at the national level that were rejected by the vast majority of Ann Arbor residents. It’s hard to fathom how – across the country – a majority of voters could have chosen a leader so clearly driven by self-interest and guidance from billionaires. A shocking number of voters supported an agenda to concentrate power, eliminate dissent, reduce accountability, and dismantle our democratic systems. The consequences are likely to be the complete opposite of what voters were promised.
How did it happen? A steady stream of misinformation and scare tactics was persuasive, even when messaging bore little resemblance to facts and reality. More concerning: these tactics were effective even when messaging emphasized anti-democratic sentiments. Elections in 2024 illustrated how many people are vulnerable to deceptive and misleading rhetoric.
We cannot control what happens elsewhere, but we can take responsibility for making informed choices here.
This year, I’m creating a series of videos to help our community of voters (and future voters!) understand more generally what local elected leaders do and how we choose them: the democratic systems that define basic roles and responsibilities to make decisions and direct policy. We cannot make informed choices about who leads us if we do not understand what those leaders actually do. We cannot hold local elected leaders accountable if we don’t understand the authority – and limits – of those elected offices. We cannot protect our democratic systems if we do not understand them. Knowledge is power!
So far, I’ve made three short videos (each about three minutes), briefly explaining most of the elected offices in Washtenaw County: City Council, County-wide positions, the school board and the library board. My hope is that these videos will help more people in our community understand how local policy happens: who is making decisions and how those leaders are chosen. You can find all three videos linked below.
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https://www.youtube.com/@a2elnel