Jeremy Aspen: All politics aren’t at all local anymore – Omaha World-Herald

“Incrementalism” to a Republican, like me, stirs an uneasy sense of the Democratic Party’s decades-long strategy to slowly but surely take away our freedoms, gently launder regulation into the currency of capitalism and to quietly centralize government to D.C. Is it working? Well, take the test by answering this question: When was the last time you participated in local government?

By now most Omahans have probably been a little shocked to see the huge digital sign on the east and north sides of Children’s Hospital, and maybe even wondered how it’s possible “they” let this happen. As it turns out, I was witness to the whole thing as a member of the Omaha Zoning Board of Appeals. Here is the Cliff’s Notes version:

• Children’s Hospital at 84th and Dodge began a major addition, which included an $5 million (so I’ve heard) digital sign.
• The sign was erected.
• Project leaders realized they’d forgotten to get permission (the sign does not conform to local zoning).
• Children’s came to the Planning Department and was directed to request a waiver from our board.
• After several hearings we issued a waiver to allow the sign to be turned on for the next year.

The Zoning Board is made up of unpaid citizens and we issue waivers (or not) for projects that don’t easily fit into the black and white zoning laws. We determine what it is to be “reasonable” in interpreting the code. And one of the things we take most seriously is public comment, that is to say firsthand accounts of how a decision will affect neighbors. It struck me as odd that not a single citizen had an opinion during the hearing, but afterward, geez…everyone has an opinion.

Robert Putnam, in his book “Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of the American Community,” paints a clear picture that Americans have become less engaged in community. At this point it’s useless to complain about it, or, unfortunately, even to hope to inspire anybody to “get involved.” It ain’t happening, let’s be honest.

Then what’s the point of the Republican Party? We’ve always touted ourselves as “pro-small government,” and what is more pro-small government than being pro-small governments? Our whole philosophy had always been that local control is better, but much of our collective energy is absorbed by being “informed” of national events by national pundits like Rush or Hannity, who necessarily focus on issues they can make interesting to a national audience.

When a grappler (or any martial artist, I suppose) is fighting, they look for an opportunity to forcibly direct an opponent’s head in the direction that positions the body of their opponent where they want it to go. “Where the head goes, the body follows.”

The national news is the sparkly thing that turns our head toward D.C. Our body chases those issues, and the result is that we forfeit our otherwise preferred future to the one “they” gave us. And the “they” are the relatively few local politicians and activists who are changing our communities with almost no community regulators to keep them in check or to help guide our future.

We are victims of a curing agent of inaction, the salience bias, a tendency to pay attention to emotionally striking events and ignore the unremarkable. The cost, though, is quite remarkable, a forfeiture of the freedom to create the home that we want to the relatively few who were willing to run for local office or serve on boards. It’s a powerful group of people.

So to my fellow Republicans: It’s time we start asking ourselves what the point of the party is these days. It’s about to be rebuilt, so are we going to turn our heads inward toward home or will we keep our heads in D.C., the epitome of big government?

To my Democratic friends: Congratulations, our heads are turned toward your prize.

Jeremy Aspen is a businessman and radio host on 1290. His passion as a self-proclaimed “localitarian” manifests itself formally in his appointed seat on the Omaha Zoning Board of Appeals and by staying engaged in political, social or charity opportunities to help make Omaha a better place to live.