Local Politics Term Paper Example

Beals 1 Clark County Board of Commissioners By Wesley Beals PSC 101 American Government and Politics Spring 2022 Section 1026-1027 Professor April Fife Introduction and Summary of the Meeting America is a unique country in the modern world for numerous reasons. One of the main reasons why America is considered unique is the government and political scene, which has been an example to many other countries around the world. The amazing thing about the government and political landscape is the fact that even though the local governments and state governments are different from the national government in a couple of different ways, there are ideas and aspects of the American national government found at the local level. This unique system is evident in the Clark County Board of Commissioners meeting, held at 9:05 AM on March 1, 2022. This meeting of the Board of Commissioners was about two hours and 45 minutes, and it covered a variety of topics as the topics related to Clark County as a whole. The meeting started Beals 2 with the Chairman, Jim Gibson, calling the meeting to order. After, there was the recognition of Women’s History Month in March in which a local poet gave a poem about the power of women and advice to build strong relationships with those around them. This was followed by a recognition of women in the County who have made big impacts in their respective communities and have served faithfully in a variety of ways. Some of the ways listed were helping by having a fridge in their front yard full of food for families who needed it, helping lead the University of Nevada- Las Vegas, and many others. This took up a majority of the meeting and each of the commissioners had stated that it was important to recognize these women and the their impact on the county. After the recognition, The Board moved into the portion of the meeting with voting on approving consent agenda items such as minutes of the February 1, 2022 meeting and correcting items of the agenda. The Board heard a public hearing from the Community Development Advisory Committee for two items. One of the items was the review of the recommendations made by the Committee about funding projects for affordable housing across the valley and including these projects in the application to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. In addition to that item, there was a vote to amend Ordinance 3431 to allow the use of eminent domain in accordance with the law. The Board approved both items. The introduction of Ordinances for talk a future date were decided and was proceed by each Commissioner reporting on their respective districts, what they were doing to help each district, and issues that each district was facing. Lastly, there were reports from local agency about different actions and programs that were in place to help child sex trafficking victims and also the Clark County Truancy Prevention Outreach Program. Each of these highlighted different benefits and many problems faced by each of the respective programs. With those two done, there was a Beals 3 final public comments portion and the meeting ended. This meeting highlighted two fundamental ideas of America; those being diversity and self-rule. Fundamental Principles of American Government Associated with this Meeting One of the two ideas and principles associated with this board meeting is the idea of diversity. Diversity is fundamental to the American identity as America has people from all different backgrounds and cultures and all of these people can contribute to society in fascinating ways. These people help develop a better place to live for everyone. This was the idea that a majority of the meeting was based on, as each of the commissioners celebrated and recognized women across Clark County for their contributions to the county. In addition, these women were of all different colors, ages, and backgrounds. The commissioners even extended the sentiment to all the women of the county, for all the work that they do every day. In addition, the people involved in the presentations during the public hearings were also of different backgrounds. The commissioners also participated in many activities that helped promote diversity in the community. For example Commissioner William McCurdy talked about participating in a Black History month celebration and talked about the importance of Black history in America. He also talked about the fact that he was holding youth leadership workshops for the black youth in the county so that they could prepare to be leaders in the future. The amazing thing about the diversity shown in the meeting was that it was not government-mandated or forced diversity. One of the heated and contended points about diversity is the role of government in making diversity and when steps are taken, the fairness towards other groups. The diversity shown in the meeting happened because the women recognized worked hard and achieved based on their merits not because they were simply women and the government mandated that recognition of Beals 4 women. It is the same for each of the presenters and even the commissioners. This is important for diversity to be achieved; that all people regardless of background or who they are, be judged on what they do and who they become rather than what groups they fit into. At the end of the recognition part of the meeting, the chairmen made a comment that what they did was important and that we should recognize all people who make contributions to each of our communities regardless of what they are. He said, “that it’s important to recognize the contribution all people make”( “Minutes of the”, 53:00-53.15) . Society best learns and becomes better as it does what the Chairman says and recognize the contributions of all in this diverse nation. Diversity was one of the key ideas present at the meeting. The other idea present at this meeting was the idea of self-rule and the mixed system that America has. America’s idea of self-rule is fundamental to the American identity, going all the way back to before the conception of the nation. This idea is based in two forms of government that the national government and even local governments oscillates between; republic and democracy. Both forms are here in the meeting. Democracy is known as the form of government in which citizens vote on the issues directly and make decisions. This is shown very apparently with the public comments that the meeting has, which people can go forward and present issues to the board. There were people that presented issues in the meeting, which is an example of direct democracy. In addition, the Board talked about the people’s decision to support the referendum legalizing marijuana and the impact that ordinary citizens have on the political process in their communities. The ideas of direct democracy are controversial although it gives more power to the people (Lupia and Matsusaka). This mostly stems from the question of, “ Are voters competent to make policy decisions” ( Lupia and Matsusaka). Through the meeting, it Beals 5 shows that people are capable of helping influence the government for good and helping their respective communities. This idea of democracy is balanced in equal measure by the republic form of government. Democracy, in which everyone votes on every issue, is not very viable in the modern age with all the decisions that need to be made. Today, “modern democracy depends on the idea that we can achieve self-government by electing our leaders” and a republican government allows citizen to still have a say through their elected politicians (Bagg). Republics are governments in which the people vote for representative that then vote on issues and make political decisions for society. This form is shown in the meeting as well. The commissioners are representatives of the people of the county and serve over each district. There were many issues that were not put before the public to give comments on or even vote on. The board did the voting and deciding on different issues such as budgets for the CDAC and how to help with child sex trafficking in the county. This helps the people still have self-rule without trying to have them constantly involved in the political process. Through the board of commissioners, different decision were made on behalf of the people of the county. Although most American government is based in the idea of a republic, principles of democracy and involvement of citizens are important to the ideas to self-rule. The idea of self-rule is shown in this meeting and shows the mixed system that America has of a democracy and a republic. Aspects of Nevada Government included in the meeting The one aspect of the Nevada government that was included in the meeting was the fact that the meeting was open to the public. In Article 4, Section 15 of the Nevada Constitution, it states, “The meetings of all legislative committees must be open to the public, except meetings held to consider the character, alleged misconduct, professional competence, or physical or Beals 6 mental health of a person” (“The Constitution of the State of Nevada” art. 4 , sec 15). This not only applies to the state legislature but to the counties and the cities as it says in Section 25 (“The Constitution of the State of Nevada” art. 4 , sec 25). Not only was the meeting recorded and released to the public, but it was also open at certain times to the public to get up and speak to the board of commissioners on issues that need to be brought up and commentary on the proposals put forth in the meetings. This idea of the public being more involved during the proceedings of a government committee show the democratic side of the system. This also fosters governmental transparency with its citizen. This is becoming more common in recent decades as the different state and local governments pass sunshine laws and amendments allowing the people to watch the government in action (Harden and Kirkland). In addition, this helps foster accountability to the people as the people can get up and speak when the government does something awry and have evidence for the accusations. Through the meeting being open to the public, also promotes a level of trust with leader as people can get familiar with what their government talks about and who their leaders are. It also offers another way to participate politically in addition to voting because the fact that people can speak up as decisions are being made and they can bring up new issues as the meeting comes to a close. Despite all of these benefits that comes with governmental transparency, opponents claim that these types of provisions, “lead to break downs in legislatures’ capacity to negotiate compromise and ultimately relieve policy gridlock.” (Harden and Kirkland). However, through a study by Jeffrey Harden and Justin Kirkland, it can be stated that these laws do not compromise the government’s ability to compromise or legislate laws(Harden and Kirkland). The aspect that was in the meeting was the fact that the meeting was open to the public and thus leans more into the democratic side of the American mixed system and fosters greater transparency with the public. Beals 7 Summary and Conclusion The County Board of Commissioners meeting had the two American ideas of diversity and self-rule and the aspect of the Nevada government by being open to the public. The idea of diversity was present as people from different perspectives and different backgrounds all participated and made decisions about policy. The idea of self-rule was evident in the mixed form as both citizens and representatives voted. Lastly, the meeting being open to the public is the aspect to the Nevada government and foster government transparency. With these ideas shown in the meeting, it shows that these are important to the Nevada state government. The state tries to help foster diversity not through forced actions but by opening opportunities to the people and their achievements and helps foster the idea of self-rule through the ideas of public viewing and other things. These important ideas are still debated by America at large, but in Nevada the best of the ideas are implemented and the leaders of the state are trying to foster a system available to all and help make Nevada a better place for all of its citizens. Works Cited Bagg, Samuel. “Sortition as Anti-Corruption: Popular Oversight Against Elite Capture.” American Journal of Political Science , 21 Mar. 2022, https://ajps.org/2022/03/21/sortitionas-anti-corruption-popular-oversight-against-elite-capture/. Beals 8 Harden, Jeffrey J, and Justin H Kirkland. “Does Transparency Inhibit Political Compromise?” American Journal of Political Science , 22 Oct. 2020, https://ajps.org/2020/10/22/doestransparency-inhibit-political-compromise/. Lupia , Arthur, and John G. Matsusaka. “Direct Democracy: New Approaches to Old Questions.”Annual Reviews, 15 June 2004, https://www.annualreviews.org/doi/full/10.1146/annurev.polisci.7.012003.104730#_i4. “Minutes of the Clark County Board of Commissioners.” Clark County Board of Commissioners, 1 March 2022, Nevada. The Constitution of the State of Nevada. (n.d.). Retrieved March 28, 2022, from https://www.leg.state.nv.us/const/nvconst.html