Responsiveness a two-way street

This election season has been going on for an awful long time for us to just start filing this week.

Of course the fault in that lies with a presidential election that kicked off for Carson Valley back in January of 2007 and will last yet another month at least.

There is no doubt that the presidential election is critical to the future of our country and its resolution will bring voters to the polls in droves.

That's a good thing.

Former Speaker of the House Tip O'Neill once made the point that all politics are local, a statement we feel goes deeper than national politicians making local connections.

It's our contention that the positions being sought now, during this filing period, will have a greater impact on our day-to-day lives than the person who wins the presidency.

During the last presidential election, a record 92 percent of Douglas County voters cast a ballot in the general election.

But only 52 percent of eligible voters bothered to cast a ballot in the primary race, which included an important county commission match-up. Of the 13,060 Republicans registered to vote only 6,387 cast a ballot in that election. The Democrats didn't do any better.

The reality of political life in Douglas County is that several of our local races are decided when the fewest deciders are casting ballots.

Several candidates have said they want government to be more responsive to the people. One way to ensure a responsive government is to turn out when it comes time to vote.