Local votes are just as important

Consider this: if you cast your vote in the 2008 presidential election, you were one of 130 million Americans to do so. Put another way, your vote was .000000007 percent of the total votes cast.

If you cast your vote at Hebron's most recent town meeting, by contrast, you were one of 45 people to do so. There, you represented about 2.2 percent of the total vote – a huge impact, especially on close votes.

Consider, too, that the results of a town meeting are likely to impact your life just as much, if not more, than what happens in Washington, D.C.

The federal government decides which model of hunting rifles are legal. Your local government decides where you can hunt.

The feds push for better energy efficiency in homes. Your local government decides whether you can build the home that you want to, where you want to build it, and what your neighbor can build next door.

The feds put money into the Department of Transportation for multi-billion dollar initiatives. Your town government fixes the pothole at the end of your street that's tearing up your vehicle.

Or it doesn't.

Whether it does fix that pothole or not depends an awful lot on how much local selectmen hear about it.

By all means, get out and support your candidate this November, when the presidential election will become a national obsession. That's a civic duty that we all have a responsibility to uphold.

In the meantime, though, don't overlook the votes that your friends and neighbors will be paying attention to. The votes that your local selectmen will be responsive to. These votes are what democracy is all about.

Be sure to attend your annual town meeting, and consider getting involved in a bigger way in your local government.