Own Your Apathy

I'm getting quite the kick out West Newbury. In case you missed it, voters unseated a sitting selectmen with a write-in campaign. Check the news article for details and names because frankly they don't matter to me.

The point is all I care about.

Elections matter. Even those that are supposedly mundane and not worth attention. In fact, I'll broaden that. Government matters. Your government matters and it warrants just the smallest bit of attention and--dare I say it--participation.

The West Newbury election is an extreme example. But enough voters in the town staged a write-in campaign to kick out a selectman who, along with his supporters, thought he was running unopposed so enough of them didn't bother to show up. (I'm assuming the selectman voted for himself.)

Now, those same feckless faithful want a do-over, arguing that they didn't know there was a race. Had they known, the argument goes, they would have performed their civic duty and actually voted.

Too bad. Too late.

This is an outlier for sure, but this mind-set isn't exclusive to West Newbury or Newburyport. Too many people don't pay attention to government until they're smacked in the face with the results, and by then it's often too late.

So, instead of calling for do-overs or unfairly charging public officials with malfeasance, people should just own the consequences of their apathy. Or they can step up to the plate and get informed and involved.