With municipal elections arriving soon with the speed of the blink of an eye, there are indications that new challengers are far and few between. Voting office records kept at city hall reveal very few newcomers taking out papers for the municipal election in the fall.
There had been the belief that an entire slate of newcomers would dominate School Committee races during this period of School Department turmoil.
Although many residents complain about the City Council doing the mayor’s bidding nearly every time, neither the incumbents on the City Council nor those on the School Committee need be too concerned.
Is it a lack of interest holding people back from putting their name onto a city ballot? Is it the power of incumbency that causes newcomers to stay away? Is it nearly everyone’s frustration with a system that seems unto itself that keeps possible participants away from the political process?
It is all the above. It is more than this.
The aging out of the generation that really cared enough to run for public office, no matter what the odds, at least partially explains the lack of new participants among those who tend to care.
What about younger people?
Younger people just don’t care about city hall.
They don’t worry about who the mayor is. They don’t care who the mayor is, let alone place their names on a ballot to run for public office. Younger people would rather stick nails in their eyes than get involved in a public tussle having to do with politics.
The Everett malaise is part of the nation’s malaise. That is, democracy as we have practiced it at the national, state and local level is greatly challenged today.
Attracting good people interested in devoting themselves to governing is almost impossible.
The nation is divided politically and disinterested as well.
The tendency is for those who are older to care.
What a strange combination having an effect on this city and the upcoming municipal election.