If you go online, watch TV, or read the news, you are much more likely to hear about the federal government than your local city or county government. Why is that? One reason is the media. A presidential election gets far more attention than a race for mayor or city council. Another is the simple fact that federal issues are national issues. War, immigration, the national debt are all issues that people across the country care about and tune into.
These issues are important, but most of your interactions with the government are not at the federal or even state level. Most interactions with government come at the local level.
Local government serves you
We interact with and use local government services so often that it’s easy to forget about them and how much work goes into them. We all rely on local government in our daily lives. When you wake up in the morning you turn on the lights and take a shower using utilities run by the city. You take out the trash which is picked up by city sanitation workers. You drive on roads paved and maintained by the city to a school run by the county. If there is an emergency, you dial 911 to a local operator who dispatches police or the fire department, both run by cities and counties. Local government is everywhere in our lives.
Local government is your community
Local government is important for more than just the services it provides. Local government is the closest level of government to the people. Those who work in local government, whether they be elected or hired, are your neighbors. Local government represents and is accountable to your neighborhood and community.
Local government gets things done
The federal and state governments need local governments to function. In addition to providing the aforementioned services, local governments often carry out federal and state programs. (Insert here) Without local government, state and federal governments could not exist as they do today.