With Election Day swiftly approaching, let's take a break from thinking about Muncie's problems and talk about the election.
First, a refresher on how national elections work. The term of the president is four years. The term of each senator is six years. And the term of each representative is two years. Therefore, every two years, the House of Representatives and one-third of the Senate are up for re-election. Every other election, the office of the president is up for grabs.
We all know that Barack Obama and John McCain are contesting the office of president. How many of us know who is running for Indiana's two Senate seats, or running for our local representative to the House? Do we even know which district Ball State University occupies?
As a matter of fact, neither Democratic Sen. Evan Bayh nor Republican Sen. Richard Lugar is up for re-election because 2008 is not a Senate election year for Indiana. In Indiana's 6th Congressional District, Republican Mike Pence, our House representative, is seeking to renew his office, as he does every other year. His opposition is Democrat Barry Welsh, a Ball State alumnus and former minister from Franklin County. Meanwhile, at the state level, incumbent Republican Mitch Daniels is running against Democrat Jill Thompson for the office of governor.
I doubt many people are paying much attention to the local races.
I must confess that I am not. I intend to take a look at them next week, but they are not the sort of spectacle I follow with bated breath, as I do the presidential election.
Why is that?
I'm hardly unique, I'm sure. Far more people are following Obama and McCain than, say, John Dorer and Matt Wagley, both of whom are running for county treasurer.
Once upon a time, the local elections were more important than the national elections. People would heartily involve themselves in the dramas of local and state politics and vote for presidential electors (not even president!) as an afterthought.
What changed?
It seems to me that, long ago, Americans identified with their states and cities more strongly than with the country as a whole. After all, the U.S. had its origin under the Articles of Confederation as a loose confederation of independent states, with a weak federal government that had little authority. It was, in fact, not unlike a smaller, slightly stronger version of the United Nations.
The state was originally the primary unit of government. But in the intervening two centuries plus change, the United States has undergone a paradigm shift. People no longer identify with their states; they identify with the national government. I am not a Hoosier first (as I would have been in 1820) but an American first and a Hoosier second.
The paradigm shift was not complete until after the Civil War, and its emergence coincides with the gradual glorification of the office of president. The president is no longer merely an administrator or a figurehead, but also a policymaker, a party leader - almost an imperial ruler.
That, my friends, is why we are paying more attention to Obama and McCain - because we are Americans first, Hoosiers second and residents of Muncie last.
Write to Neal at necolman@bsu.edu
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