Essays From West of 98: It Is Always Personal
Local government is deeply personal and that's worth embracing
“Business is always personal. It’s the most personal thing in the world.”
--Michael Scott
Let’s give credit where credit is due: Michael Scott had more wisdom than we thought. In his seven seasons on “The Office” as manager of the Scranton office of Dunder Mifflin Paper Company, Inc., Michael made some horrifying management decisions. He was an HR nightmare, constantly causing problems with and between employees with inappropriocity (a word he coined in an episode that I find to be quite useful).
And yet, at his core, he was a deeply caring human. He wanted people to love him and he wanted to love other people. He wanted friends and a family to care about. He did not always express this love properly, and he should have gone to counseling for issues that stemmed from childhood trauma and abandonment, but dadgummit, the man cared.
One of my favorite episodes of is “Business School” in the third season. This is the same episode where “don’t be an idiot” was revealed as powerful advice that more public servants should hear. In it, young know-it-all employee Ryan Howard invites Michael to speak to one of his business school classes. It’s not exactly a show of respect. Ryan gets extra credit for bringing his boss to class and based on the topic of the class (technology and business), he knows Michael will be humiliated. Sure enough, Michael is ambushed. He’s peppered with questions by MBA students about the doomed nature of the paper business. He storms out angrily, but not before unleashing some brilliant one-liners like “you cannot learn from books” and “real business is done on paper.”
Afterwards, Ryan attempts to apologize, thinking he’s about to be fired. He tells Michael, “it wasn’t personal” and Michael responds that business is always personal. More business leaders could stand to be like this, as they ignore the humanity and dignity of workers in the name of “efficiency.”
It is also how I feel about local government.
This is not an endorsement of large-scale government as your “friend” or any gobbledygook like that. Rather, this is one of the biggest lessons I have learned in my tenure as mayor of a small town. Much of state and national government is bureaucratic, impersonal, and far removed from its effects on everyday life. People who make those large-scale decisions rarely live among the people who are affected by the decisions.
At the local level, lives are impacted on a direct daily basis and the leaders deal with the direct consequences of those decisions in their own lives. Water service, sewer service, streets, and trash collection are essential aspects of daily life. When those services have issues, be it a pothole, a water/sewer leak, or a missed trash pickup, the effects are noticeable. This is deeply personal to people, especially when those issues disrupt their daily routines, their personal lives, or their businesses. And as a local leader, it becomes deeply personal and troubling when those problems arise. Even when the problems are caused by an issue out of your control, like unpredictable weather or ancient pipes that have had leaks growing for decades, it is still personal. You still feel it when your own life is affected. You especially feel it when other people are affected and you cannot immediately solve the problem.
My disdain for state and national politics is mushrooming and I think this is part of the reason why. When I look at the political landscape, I see a whole lot of talking to generate clicks, fundraising, and re-election campaigns. It is full of personal attacks, but it is not treated as personal. It is a coldly-calculated business of accumulating, retaining, and expanding power.
On the local level, government and politics are deeply personal. It is the most personal thing in the world. Lives are impacted each day for good or bad. It can be stressful to realize the gravity of its impact, but it also underscores the importance of running for local office. When you embrace the personal nature of local government, you will realize just how much it truly matters.
James Decker is the Mayor of Stamford, Texas and the creator of the West of 98 website and the Rural Church and State and West of 98 podcasts. Contact James and subscribe to these essays at westof98.substack.com and subscribe to him wherever podcasts are found.
This is brilliant, James, I have immense respect for local politicians like yourself - and a local politician with this attitude is one who is well on the way to being a force for good in their community "On the local level, government and politics are deeply personal. It is the most personal thing in the world. Lives are impacted each day for good or bad. It can be stressful to realize the gravity of its impact, but it also underscores the importance of running for local office."
This level of self reflection is vitally needed on both sides of the Pond.
Localism has been on my mind a lot recently - and is why I have made a point of reading my local news and not just the national/global as I outlined here https://overthefield.substack.com/p/where-you-are-is-where-you-are which you may have seen. From the feedback I got on this essay it seems localism is really touching a chord with people at the moment - which is excellent, and as you say may provide a healthy antidote to the political chaos that is engulfing both of our nations.
And yet turnout for local elections is abysmal. I’m very involved in local politics in my suburban Dallas city, and it’s a perennial question of how to get people to care enough to actually show up and vote. About the only time they do is when there’s an unpopular bond on the ballot, but even then they undervote the mayoral or council or school board seats up for election and only vote on the bond. It’s quite frustrating.