Woody Allen and Neighborhood Council Elections 2010

It's great to see so many fresh faces, young and not-so-young, expressing interest in representing the voices of their community as new members of the Mar Vista Community Council.

The election for the MVCC Board of Directors is on April 11, 2010. More info at marvista.org.

Despite my having a chunky bit of healthy cynicism about politics, I encourage everyone I meet to participate in this evolving Los Angeles experiment called "neighborhood councils." The fact is that however one feels about politics, or the health and efficacy of NCs, such local deliberative, democratic bodies have grown into an indisputably critical part of finding sustainable solutions to community issues.

With the caveat, perhaps, that like any democratic, representative body, NCs remain genuinely dedicated to the present and future welfare of an inclusive and diverse community.

Risks abound. Narrower special interests donning the rhetoric of community and the public good have always found their voice in our institutions, from PTAs to Congress, well before the US Supreme Court ruled, for example, that cash is speech. In our democracy, there is a place for everyone, including single-issue pressure groups, at the table. But common sense and decent governance requires that a single lobby shouldn't be the only one to set the menu.

But whether a narrow interest (corporations, environmentalists, developers, religious fundamentalists, whites, Latinos, dwarves and nimbys) wins the day or not, depends on the health of the democratic process. The open democratic process, Americans have always believed or hoped, will take care of the rest. Sometimes it does. Sometimes not. Pluralism requires better than what the Supreme Court, in its infinite jurisprudential wisdom, decreed.

But those who do get "heard" and are counted recognize that Woody Allen's maxim that 80% is about showing up, always rings true--in love, in life and in politics.

So, if you care, be there.

Image credit: lucholuna