Current Events:  Attending a Maryland Legislator Town Hall — A first for me.

Aside from voting, I’ve never been politically active.  As you may know from my previous posts, for the past couple of years, I’ve been working to implement open primaries in Maryland.  Why?  After some research, I became convinced that open primaries and/or ranked choice voting were effective tools for reducing the hyper partisanship that limits the effectiveness of our government.  And, God knows, we have a lot of big, hard problems to solve.

When I saw an email flyer for a town hall being hosted by some state legislators, I decided to attend and registered on-line.

How it worked.

 

The town hall was hosted by 1 state senator and 3 state delegates who represent 1 district in Maryland.  (Maryland has slightly fewer than 200 state senators and delegates … and 47 districts.) 

It was a zoom from 7:30 to 8:30pm on a weekday evening.

I guesstimate 80 people attended.  This is 0.1% of the of the district’s 80,000 registered voters.  (Note to self:  A very, very small number of vocal, persistent political activists might have influence way, way out of proportion to their number.)

What I heard … and saw … and thought.

 

The legislators reviewed their priorities for the annual 90-day legislative session which just started:  legislation they saw being considered, and issues they were wrestling with.  They also addressed questions that had been submitted in advance. 

A couple of observations:

Based on just looking at people on the zoom, the audience was bimodal.  Maybe half seniors and half 20/30 somethings.  I guess seniors are politically active and have the time to invest … the young-uns are politically active and make the time … and maybe those in between are consumed by work and family and don’t have any time.  (Note to self:  If this audience is representative of politically active people, those trying to get something done in the legislature should target seniors and young-uns.)

Following is what I heard listening through my ears … and not necessarily what was said or meant.  I am trying to present a fair and balanced summary of what the legislators talked about.

• • Stuff I would put in the social progress bucket (e.g., affordable housing, education, clean energy, green programs, healthcare, the arts).

• • Issues associated with achieving a balanced budget (which is required in Maryland).  They attributed revenue shortfalls to federal government funding declines (COVID pandemic funding going away) … and the economy.  (Yeah, I know … cognitive dissonance.  Aren’t the Dems extolling a strong economy?)  They attributed upward pressure on costs due to participation in Medicaid (-caid not -care) being higher than expected. 

• • There were several references to protecting Marylanders from the Trump Agenda. 

• • Surprising to me, one of the legislators claimed that Maryland was a role mode state for election law.  (Note to self:  I need to check that out.)

• • I didn’t hear or recognize much on economic growth.

Most of what I saw in the chat was either related to social progress or some individual’s very specific issue.

 

These legislators represent an overwhelmingly Blue district in an overwhelmingly Blue state.  They seem to be ministering to the priorities of their constituents, at least those who choose to show up.  Isn’t this what we want them to do in a representative democracy?   

So, if we have other priorities … like economic growth and prosperity, open primaries, and adequate electricity supply … we need show up … and get more of our fellow Marylanders to visibly support them.  Or, simply email your legislator your views on an issue or priority that is important to you.  (Note to self:  This might be a more effective use of my time than kibbitzing about it on social media.)