Speaker A
So, strangers often stop me on the street and say something along the lines of, "I would never do your job." Even though it happens so often, I'm always a little surprised.
Ryan Coonerty highlights the vital role of local government in democracy and urges citizen engagement to solve community challenges.
Ask about this video. Answers come from its transcript only — with the timestamp, so you can check them.
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Key Takeaways
- Local government has more direct impact on citizens' lives than national politics.
- Innovative local initiatives can address major issues like climate change and social equity.
- Political disengagement at the local level threatens democracy and community well-being.
- Citizen participation is essential for effective local governance and problem-solving.
- Running for local office is a powerful way to contribute to democracy and community improvement.
What the video covers
- Ryan Coonerty discusses public perceptions of politics and the challenges faced at the national level.
- He emphasizes the importance and impact of local government in addressing critical issues like climate change, social equity, and economic innovation.
- Examples of successful local initiatives from cities across the U.S. demonstrate innovative solutions and community improvements.
- Local governments have significant budgets and responsibilities that directly affect citizens' daily lives.
- Despite local successes, political division and disengagement threaten the effectiveness of local democracy.
- Voter turnout and participation in local elections are low, which undermines community problem-solving.
- Coonerty calls for increased citizen involvement through voting, volunteering, and running for local office.
- He stresses that local government is where democracy truly lives and can have the most tangible impact.
- Sharing innovative ideas between communities helps spread effective solutions nationwide.
- The video concludes with a motivational appeal for people to engage actively in local democratic processes.
Chapters
- 00:00Public Perceptions of Politics
- 01:00Challenges in National Politics
- 02:15The Importance of Local Government
- 03:15Local Innovations and Success Stories
- 04:30Sharing Ideas Across Communities
- 05:10Impact of Local Officials vs. National Leaders
- 06:00Threats to Local Democracy
- 07:00Call to Civic Engagement and Participation
Full Transcript — Download SRT & Markdown
Speaker A
You see, my job doesn't require that I run into burning buildings, or perform open heart surgery, or teach math to middle schoolers.
Speaker A
Um, my job has actually relatively few qualifications. As you can tell from the suit, I'm a politician.
Speaker A
So, I've been... So, recently I asked people, "Why?" And their answers aren't surprising given the state of our world.
Speaker A
They see politics as mean. They see governmental action as incremental at best, or completely broken at worst. They hate the attacks, the win-at-all-costs partisanship. That I would voluntarily spend my days in endless meetings making the compromises necessary to pass
Speaker A
laws is incomprehensible. That I would campaign to do it by putting my name on a ballot, knocking on doors, raising money, is a sign to them and my wife of my mental instability.
Speaker A
But I get it. And I see when I watch national politics, whether it's here or anywhere around the world, I watch it with the same dismay.
Speaker A
We are watching democracies around the world break. We are seeing our institutions being torn down by big-moneyed interests and the politics of division, disinformation campaigns that play to our anger and our fear and our hatreds.
Speaker A
And it's terrifying because when we lose our democracy, we're going to lose our institutions and our ability to solve the problems that we need to solve.
Speaker A
It's also made serving in elective office at the national level a miserable and futile experience.
Speaker A
But for me, at the local level, and for thousands of local officials like me, there's never been a better time to be in elective office if you want to address challenges.
Speaker A
Thank you. Thank you. We are engaging with our communities in entirely new ways. We're solving problems that are not happening at the national level, so by opportunity and necessity, we are taking on big issues. We're taking on climate change.
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We're taking on social equity. We're taking on economic innovation, law, justice, and democracy, and we're doing big things.
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Here in Santa Cruz, more than 20 cities, and soon to be more than 30 cities and counties on the Central Coast, have formed our own power company, and we're delivering more renewables to you at a fraction of the cost. Santa Cruz
Speaker A
County has long been a leader in environmental preservation, in reducing plastics, in early childhood intervention, in juvenile justice, in end-of-life care, and we will continue to be a national model.
Speaker A
Look, we have a lot of challenges here locally, but as a local official, every day I get to wake up and try to take action to make our community a little bit better place.
Speaker A
But it's not just here in Santa Cruz that these things are happening. In St. Louis, local government officials are giving every kindergartner a college savings account.
Speaker A
That makes it 64% more likely that those kids graduate from college. Cincinnati, Ohio is going carbon neutral by building the largest city-owned solar array in the United States.
Speaker A
Burlington, Vermont cut opioid overdoses in half by expanding treatment in jails and emergency rooms. Stockton, just north of here, is expanding, is experimenting with basic income.
Speaker A
Uh, and Louisville, Kentucky has partnered with the Dalai Lama to integrate compassion into their cities' lives.
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Other communities are trying innovations with public arts and livable neighborhoods and walkable streets.
Speaker A
They're trying new ways to process trash and sewage and bring clean water. And they're seeing some really extraordinary results.
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And the coolest thing about all this is that when these communities do great things, or when we do these great things here in Santa Cruz, we share these ideas.
Speaker A
So, every community is out there trying to help other communities improve their lives. So, if I come up with an innovative idea or a new way to deliver a service, not only can I help the lives
Speaker A
of those in my community, but I can help thousands, if not millions, of people's lives in other communities.
Speaker A
Recently, on my podcast An Honorable Profession, I spoke to Eric Lesser. Eric Lesser served as a senior aide in the Obama administration. He worked for years just feet from the Oval Office.
Speaker A
I asked him why he chose to return to his small western Massachusetts hometown to run for the state Senate instead of staying in Washington.
Speaker A
And his answer was clear and unequivocal. It's about impact. If you care about justice, your local district attorney and sheriff have far more impact on the criminal justice system than the Attorney General of the United States. You want to improve your
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schools? Your local school board has more power than the Department of Education. If you care about parks, roads, streets, jobs, local business, all those, all those things are decided at the local level.
Speaker A
Local government is essential and effective and it will have far more impact on your life than any president or prime minister ever will.
Speaker A
As President Lyndon Johnson once observed, he said, "When the burdens of the presidency become too great, I always remind myself it could be worse. I could be a mayor." So, while we are out making this tremendous impact, while we are out
Speaker A
innovating and doing, and making our communities better, we are watching people disengage. The forces that are tearing apart national governments are now beginning to tear apart local governments. The forces of division that exist between Democrats and Republicans
Speaker A
at the federal level are now beginning to emerge locally. And it's devastating not only for us to make our communities work, but to solve the big problems that we know we can solve. Local governments in the
Speaker A
United States, their combined annual budget is $2 trillion. That's more than all but two countries in the world.
Speaker A
We have the power to make sure that clean water comes into your home, and as we saw in Flint, that is not a given.
Speaker A
Uh, and we have the power that we need to treat the dirty water coming out of your home.
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We need to make sure that you are... we are the agencies that you call, and that we respond when you are the victim of a crime, when your house is on fire, when a natural disaster occurs. And we
Speaker A
but we need your engagement. A recent study found that only one out of every five eligible voters participated in a municipal election.
Speaker A
We're watching cities and school boards struggle to find people who will run and serve on their boards.
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We're watching the local news disappear so that we can't talk about our issues with our citizens.
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And this is the time when we need your engagement the most. We need your energy, your time, your love, your hope, and we need you to engage in local democracy.
Speaker A
So, we need you to vote and track a local issue. We need you to volunteer to support a local candidate or a local measure. We need you to serve on a city advisory board or a county commission.
Speaker A
And just maybe, we need you to run and do a job that a stranger will approach you on the street and say they can't believe that you will do, because that is how democracy will make sure that local government is where
Speaker A
democracy lives. Thank you very much.
Topics:local governmentdemocracycommunity engagementpoliticscivic participationclimate changesocial equityinnovationpublic servicelocal elections
