Yep. When even presidential elections only get a 50% turnout we are in trouble. And you are entirely correct about local ones. No one seems to care until it is too late.
Wonder what percentage of Freepers vote? And what percentage vote EVERY TIME? Even though my vote is meaningless in the RATruled City of Chicago I go to the polls every time and make sure that at least one vote will not be for the RAT machine.
"No kidding. I don't care for the decision but come on, this is a local issue, not federal. People need to show up and vote in local elections.
We recently (~2 months ago) had a city council/referendum vote in Austin and about 18% turned out. The next day everyone of my coworkers are bitching aboutthe smoking ban but not a single one voted."
This will not work.
Controlling these sorts of national issues by astute local government never has worked, does not work, and is not going to start to work.
The reason it won't work is human inertia: the collective action problem, and it is invincible. In THEORY, all of those Polish aristocrats and burgers should have been able to agree, when they saw the Russians and Prussians both conniving at carving their country up, that they needed to be united against the threat. But that sort of close, continuing, perfect cooperation by so many disparate and otherwise uncooperative people for a sustained period of time is not possible. Poland disappeared from the map.
So, incidentally, did every single Celtic kingdom. The Celts had vast personal liberty and prerogative, and were very resentful and suspicious of any sort of organized authority. They resisted it manfully, when it was other Celts. This, of course, chopped them up, made them divided, resentful and completely unable to come together for sustained efforts against anybody else. And so they were ruled by Italians, Teutons, Greeks and Vikings, who could and did submit to kings.
There is a myth that great national problems can be worked out locally. People just don't work that way. Just try to set up something as simple as an Amway network with your closest friends and family and you will discover the very real limits on the ability to motivate people to do anything.
It takes great and stirring issues and great causes to really get people to move on anything.
Press down any issue to the lowest level of local government, and what you do is absolutely ensure that, nationwide, the largest monied interests and most organized national players will simply push each puny locality around. You also ensure that locally connected people and the local good-old-boy's network will sew everything up.
Who can take property is not a local issue.
It's a national moral issue. It says something about the character of the people.
Leave this to local government, and we know the answer for 99% of the United States: WalMart, Ford and Costco can take property, and so can the mayor's brother-in-law. 1% of localities will resist, but the national norm will be what labor conditions were like before there were any regulations or unions.