A Representative Democracy (if you can keep it)

The second big question we’ve heard goes something like: “This is a democracy. Why shouldn’t we just vote?” As big fans of democracy, that one is a bit harder to answer.

When was the last time you voted on a city ordinance? Why doesn’t it happen more?

We live in more than a democracy. We live in a representative democracy. We elect representatives in the form of city councils and mayors, governors and congresspeople, senators and presidents. We elect these folks to spend the time to weigh big national things like new health care policies and smaller local things like zoning codes.

We elect neighbors we trust to represent us. If we had to ratify every single action at every level of government, we’d never be able to do anything else.

It is true that part of our system allows for initiative petitions and referendums. This action of direct democracy is difficult to do for good reason. We certainly admire the tenacity required to collect signatures. The petition process to compel direct democracy is sort of an “in case of emergency break glass” kind of action.

The new zoning ordinance was passed unanimously by our city council. Think about that. ALL our elected city officials agreed the new zoning ordinance was worth passing.

These questions about democracy, and the petition itself, are telling in another way. It’s like being patted on the head and told we’ve done pretty well but those who know best will take it from here.
We’ve even heard we should only have meetings in the summer, because so many who live elsewhere can’t attend in the other seasons (though they often do by Zoom).

We may be a small town, but we can govern ourselves in all seasons. Even when our guests who live most of the year in Florida, South Carolina or downstate head back home.

There are certainly those who do not like the new zoning code. We’ve heard that loudly. However, it was developed by thoughtful friends and neighbors. And that matters a great deal to us.

As always, be sure to share this and pass along www.weloveharborspringstoo.org to those who may have questions. We'll make it through together.