The Federal government is only a small piece of a complicated machine. Due to a focus on "deregulation" and "shrinking government", the current Federal workforce is smaller than it was during the 1990s.

They have the staff to make rules and oversee processes, but the work of implementing laws is passed down to States. Then, they pass it down to cities or counties, and then cities and counties fight over the money.

2/12

You may not think of your city/county government as being very important, since when they work well, it's possible to forget that they even exist.

However, when shit's going wrong at the Federal and even the State level, these local city/county governments are your last line of defense.

I'll talk more generally about this and then I'll go into specifics -

3/12

When I worked in local government, a single resident showing up to talk about something was enough to get phone calls made and change or influence Federal policy.

When you call a Federal representative, you're one of, potentially, millions. When you show up to speak at a City or County Council meeting, you are one of a very small group.

You don't need a big group in order to do this. You can go solo.

4/12