Types of diminished elections have been occurring for some time, perhaps in other communities as well in Shorewood. If it is apathy, then we must ask, why the indifference, the lack of interest?

I don't believe that we can ascribe this feeling to the thousands of people who make up our community. Although a mix of things occurring at the same time could result in that feeling among a large group.

I've often raised the question of incumbency, especially at the local level of government and I believe that incumbency brings with it a power of its own. Anyone who has not run for election before may hesitate to run especially against an incumbent.

All running in Shorewood today are incumbents. They show no apathy. So their seats won't go empty.

Not everyone on the edge of running for office knows who will be running. Most new candidates are likely to run without knowing who they will be opposing,   Someone could announce to run for president of the board, not knowing whether or not the incumbent is going to run or whether others might run as well.

When individuals in office generate strong opposition, then, uninitiated candidates are more likely run against them, using the flow of opposition to aid them, otherwise the task might seem overwhelming. Of course, this in not always the case.

Having said all of this, there still may be a lack of interest in local government. I believe that those in office have not presented themselves in the best of democratic conditions.

Once elected, they tend not to listen to citizens and clothe themselves in a veil of superiority allowing themselves to ignore any citizen's contradictory thoughts.

These are not the best models presented to potential candidates. I expect that my thoughts will develop further on this subject and I'm sure others will enhance the base of discussion.

But for the moment I don't believe that a “no-election” describes fully what is happening in Shorewood this year, although this describes what we are observing.

However, I believe that a stronger opposition is developing but that opposition is to the status quo, to the system, to type of elections themselves and to the undemocratic model that they produce. This moment proves that those who are in, want to stay in and those who are out may not want to become part of the present system.

It won't be long before we'll be involved in the coming local election. I expect that Dawn Anderson and Michael Maher will be candidates for their present seats on the Shorewood Village Board.

Its likely that no one else will run. But even though I favor both Mike and Dawn, it would be nice if we had at least 2 others running, so that they'd have some democratic opposition that would give the voters a better idea of the issues.

It is my hope that we get more discussion on issues and less self-promotion and a spread of yard signs. I'd like us to be the first community to voluntarily do away with yard signs. They don't help with the issues

The way we set up our forums doesn't really make it possible to fully discuss topics and know how our candidates really stand on the real issues. We should have more forums and fuller discussions, especially as these are at-large elections.

Are there any ideas on how to do this? Please comment.

It is becoming obvious that elected officials are aware of bloggers' postings but prefer to ignore their content by pretending that these exclamations, these messages from those that they purport to represent, do not exist.

This pattern of behavier might be considered to be a form of institutionalized arrogance.

Seasoned elected officials especially, believe that actual participation with citizens in any form of discussion is to be avoided as it may require a response.

The pattern is easily observable. Candidates consciously avoid real discussion of issues during the election process and especially after attaining office.  Anything resembling debate might indicate, one, that a citizen might be as knowledgeable and as wise as the official and two, a more dangerous assumption, that the citizen shows more wisdom than the one in authority.

Until individual officials begin changing this pattern, citizens who do read blogs and acknowledge that they do read them, must assume that so-called “representatives” do not care to represent their constituents.

Citizens should consider the real significance of this situation. Elected officials should recite over and over the phrase “of the people” or eventually suffer a loss of that authority “by the people.” It is possible that an increasing number of voters will refuse to go to the polls and diminish the authority and significance of those elected, the citizens assuming that officials are not “for the people”.