Where I am, the municipal government are also MPs in the lower house. LA seats also tend not to move much, it’s been mostly the same people in the same seats the whole time I’ve been here. The big municipalist candidate actually gave up after he lost two elections and went back to local municipal and dual power operations and organisations… so I’m much more interested in volunteering for local coops or seeing what his latest work efforts are.
Overall though I’m way more interested in municipal politics. One for philosophical reasons, since I find Bookchin’s ideas about municipalism both empirically and ideologically compelling; and two because it’s way less depressing to actually see real change happen through municipal dual power operations and establishment politics. Federal and state politics are intractably bougie and have a lot of inertia driven by money and “old boys” networks.
All the socialist success stories have been built bottom up, all the failures and nonstarters have tried to cut in where they’re inevitably forced out; or become tyrannical and drift from their original goals. Resilient systems are built from people, it’s the only way humans can function collectively in my opinion.
I do perceive that the most change seems to happen at the local level, and that’s where things like direct action live as well. That’s why I’ve made an effort to meet and speak with local officials. It’s hard not to get a little bit discouraged though, when things that could really provide more equity seem to go ignored. For instance, the needs of groups like first-gen immigrants and people with disabilities seem to always be a second priority, pretty consistently.
Where I am, the municipal government are also MPs in the lower house. LA seats also tend not to move much, it’s been mostly the same people in the same seats the whole time I’ve been here. The big municipalist candidate actually gave up after he lost two elections and went back to local municipal and dual power operations and organisations… so I’m much more interested in volunteering for local coops or seeing what his latest work efforts are.
Overall though I’m way more interested in municipal politics. One for philosophical reasons, since I find Bookchin’s ideas about municipalism both empirically and ideologically compelling; and two because it’s way less depressing to actually see real change happen through municipal dual power operations and establishment politics. Federal and state politics are intractably bougie and have a lot of inertia driven by money and “old boys” networks.
All the socialist success stories have been built bottom up, all the failures and nonstarters have tried to cut in where they’re inevitably forced out; or become tyrannical and drift from their original goals. Resilient systems are built from people, it’s the only way humans can function collectively in my opinion.
I do perceive that the most change seems to happen at the local level, and that’s where things like direct action live as well. That’s why I’ve made an effort to meet and speak with local officials. It’s hard not to get a little bit discouraged though, when things that could really provide more equity seem to go ignored. For instance, the needs of groups like first-gen immigrants and people with disabilities seem to always be a second priority, pretty consistently.