Are all politics still local?
That is the question that a four-man panel attempted to answer at last week’s Engage the Times event which occurred at 12 noon in room 125 in the Skyhawk Dining Hall. Does local politics still have the most direct impact on people’s lives and civic outlook, or has national politics become the de facto politics of every American city, town, and county?
The panel discussion, presided over by Dr. Arthur Hunt of UTM’s Communications Department, was composed of Weakley County Mayor Jake Bynum, county elections administrator Alex Britt, and two student representatives from the College Democrats and College Republicans. Representing the former was Luke Winters, a senior Health and Human Performance major, and standing in for the College Republicans was Haden Bawcum, junior Agriculture Business major.
Bynum led the discussion and largely set the tone and tenor for the other participants. While emphasizing the real day-to-day impact that local government has in the lives of ordinary people in non-partisan ways, he decried the encroachment of high-profile national issues like gun control and refugee resettlement further into county and municipal government.
“We’re, at this point, still very keenly aware,” said Bynum, “that [those national issues] are not the work we are tasked to do, and so we’re pushing back on some of that.”
Other panelists picked up on and expanded the theme. Mr. Britt connected the importance of local politics back to the foundation of the republic. “Are all politics local? Our founders set up this country to be that way. Decisions that our county commissions make, decisions that our mayors make, our city mayors, and board of aldermen, if you think about it, have more impact on your everyday life: your tax statements every year, the roads you’re riding on, if you’re trying to start a business.”
Although all the panelists agreed that local government was of great importance to all citizens, they identified the number one issue facing county and municipal politics as low voter turnout and engagement. According to Mr. Britt, during the 2016 election season around 7800 people in Weakley County voted in the presidential primary while only 2300 voted in the August county general elections. To increase voter turnout, Britt’s election commission decided for the 2020 election season to expand early voting to residents of Martin.
Mayor Bynum also discussed his efforts to increase voter turnout and engagement, noting his work with Nashville-based think tank Think TN, which compiled a task force of 14 mayors to address the issue. Among the focuses specific to Weakley County were the creation of youth council composed of high school students with an advisory role and potentially an advisory body made up of UTM students as well. To engage UTM students, Bynum has also cooperated with All in Democracy, a group dedicated to increasing civic engagement on college campuses.
The student representatives testified to what they perceived as an unfortunate lack of enthusiasm for local politics among the UTM student body. They noted that student political engagement is mostly driven by the national news cycle and social media, slanting student perspectives towards political interest at the federal level. Mr. Winters noted this in his experience with the College Democrats.
“I came into university during the transition from President Obama to President Trump,” Winters recounted. “When we had President Obama, membership in College Democrats was a lot higher compared to what it is currently, because there is no clear leader for the Democratic Party as of right now. So that translates to involvement here on campus.” He also noted that the rise of Donald Trump as a central figure for Republicans have driven an opposite reaction in the College Republicans.
Mr. Bawcum agreed, adding that students were apathetic to local issues and that something needed to be done to reverse this. “Social media is how 90% of students on this campus learn about their politics. Well, Twitter does not care if there is a pothole going down Main Street in Martin, Tennessee,” Bawcum asserted. “If I get on Fox’s website, or CNN’s website, or Twitter, they aren’t going to cover those local issues, because that’s not what drives sales.” Media more than anything, Bawcum seemed to suggest, was driving young voters to turn deaf ears to the local political scene.
The panel ended with a reiteration of their shared commitment to increase voter participation and engagement and promote a revival of engagement with local government.
The next Engage the Times event will be held on Feb. 7 and is entitled “Should college professors have leisure time?” More details can be found on their website at http://www.utm.edu/engage/times.
