The candidates for City Council and Mayor were seated on the stage with an American flag above their heads. The moderator and assistants, dressed in jackets and bow ties, were seated at the front of the room facing the stage with the audience to their backs.
The debate in this small town began with a prayer. That's one of the things I love about this town. Prayer. We pray at the beginning of most any event here.
The hosts and the moderator of this event were mostly high school students that also run a local news website. From what I can tell, they are responsible for pulling the entire debate together. They were professional through the entire evening and did a fantastic job.
One of the themes that ran through the event was "come to my house". I believe all the candidates at one time or another invited anyone in town to come over and talk or ask questions. Being in a small town, everyone in the room is neighbors with one another or knows someone that is neighbors with you. I think this was proven by the openness of the men and woman running for city office. They are our neighbors.
Social media is another theme that frequented the group of candidates that are split in half by an age gap. While the younger candidates push for more technology and electronic communication by the city government, the older candidates tried to show that not everyone uses social media. "How many of you sent a tweet today?", was asked by an older candidate. A hand full of audience members along with the younger candidates raised their hands. Feeling satisfied that his point had been proven, the older gentleman went on to tell us he doesn't even have a "tweeter" to send a tweet.
The theme of technology continued through the evening and during closing statements one of the younger candidates laughed shyly as he told us to get more info about him by visiting his website.
You know the stereotype of a small town that says everyone knows everyone else? It's true. And if you don't know someone, you might know their daddy. I guess that's why one of the candidates decided to use daddy's name several times while answering questions. Daddy was a popular business man in town. It reminded me of Junior thinking he's a fantastic race car driver because his daddy was.
So what does a small town political debate look like? It's a room full of candidates and spectators that are passionate about making their small town the best small town possible, for each other.
Being at the debate and getting involved in local politics has me pumped up for the election in a few weeks. It's a bit disappointing that I will not be able to vote since I live a block outside of the city limits. But to whoever gets elected, that doesn't mean I want to be annexed. Please, please don't annex me! I'm happily supporting the town from one block away.
1 comment:
Don't know if you caught it, but one mayoral candidate said one way to raise revenue is to annex more city limits.
Also, didn't Rus ask if anyone was on Facebook and 2/3 of the room raised their hands? I thought that made the tweeter comment seem fogeyish.
Post a Comment