07-18-2012, 01:54 PM
Hawaii is unusually centralized, probably the most centralized state in the Union. We have the only state wide school district in the country, only one incorporated city (Honolulu) in the state, and no elected local government closer to the communities people identify themselves with, than county councilor. All those lower rungs to the political ladder that normally attract regular citizens to entry level offices and civic involvement are completely missing in Hawaii: local water board, small town city councilor or mayor (Fred would make a much better mayor of Pahoa than Hawaii county councilor) school or library board member, etc. just don't exist here. So we get a deeply entrenched networked professional politicians who just get on the Hawaii political assembly line to ever higher office, starting in college as UHH or UH-Manoa student body presidents in some cases, and barring some major scandal, they just stay on the ride until they end up running for Congress or Governor.
It took me awhile to figure out how Hawaii's history has shaped local politics, I didn't really comprehend the historic legacy until I started teaching History of the Hawaiian Kingdom and learned in detail how Hawaii went from being a feudal society, to an absolute monarchy, to elected monarch mixed with a plantation system of large land holders who get to vote and workers who don't, and then to a period of fluidity and change that had only one central theme: centralized control that eventually turned into statehood. Those stages of political development here all have left their imprint, and there are two sides to the coin of highly centralized government: one is that it is very hard to make changes at a local level, the other side is that if you just want to hunker down and try to ignore the government there are a lot of ways and places in Hawaii to do that. Those of us who are in the middle of that coin, we want to serve our communities and have our government serve the people, are left out of this dynamic.
Greggor (see I am bringing this back to this thread) doesn't seem to be part of that groomed from college days Big Island elite, and James Weatherford certainly isn't. Fred Blas hasn't shown much desire to listen to the concerns of citizens, and seems to only want to communicate with a narrow band of his constituents, but he sure looked pretty comfortable rubbing shoulders with Hanohano and the other movers and shakers of Hawaii politics at Luquins, instead of voting on a bill that directly impacted Pahoa downtown at the council meeting a few weeks ago.
Carol
It took me awhile to figure out how Hawaii's history has shaped local politics, I didn't really comprehend the historic legacy until I started teaching History of the Hawaiian Kingdom and learned in detail how Hawaii went from being a feudal society, to an absolute monarchy, to elected monarch mixed with a plantation system of large land holders who get to vote and workers who don't, and then to a period of fluidity and change that had only one central theme: centralized control that eventually turned into statehood. Those stages of political development here all have left their imprint, and there are two sides to the coin of highly centralized government: one is that it is very hard to make changes at a local level, the other side is that if you just want to hunker down and try to ignore the government there are a lot of ways and places in Hawaii to do that. Those of us who are in the middle of that coin, we want to serve our communities and have our government serve the people, are left out of this dynamic.
Greggor (see I am bringing this back to this thread) doesn't seem to be part of that groomed from college days Big Island elite, and James Weatherford certainly isn't. Fred Blas hasn't shown much desire to listen to the concerns of citizens, and seems to only want to communicate with a narrow band of his constituents, but he sure looked pretty comfortable rubbing shoulders with Hanohano and the other movers and shakers of Hawaii politics at Luquins, instead of voting on a bill that directly impacted Pahoa downtown at the council meeting a few weeks ago.
Carol
Carol
Every time you feel yourself getting pulled into other people's nonsense, repeat these words: Not my circus, not my monkeys.
Polish Proverb
Every time you feel yourself getting pulled into other people's nonsense, repeat these words: Not my circus, not my monkeys.
Polish Proverb