Do you attend local political events in your city/county?

No. I am a left leaning Moderate/Centrist and the state I live in is full-blown Republican. But I do pay attention to political news in the newspaper and televised news programs.

I have live-streamed a couple city council meetings when they were debating an issue that more directly affected me. And I know who the council members are. That’s about the extent to which I’m involved.

I know the players, never attend any mob events, and rarely advocate any candidates. When the occasional exception is forced upon on me it is usually because the opposition is too reprehensible to be ignored.

In the town I live in, I don’t know much about local politics. I did attend a few town meetings, when they were discussing issues that were of interest to me. One recently was about a homeowner who had dogs outside in all kinds of cold weather. Also on the agenda was (is) a big development which will have warehouses and trucks and lights and lots of traffic.

In the County I work in, I attend political events often. It’s kind of part of my job, and sometimes the job pays for me to attend.

County commission meetings, some. I read the agenda online before I decide to go. I go maybe 5 meetings a year

I don’t live in a city, that is irrelevant.

Zoning board – I have gone a couple times when there was some potential project near me.

Yes, I have met 3 of the 5 county commissioners, one well enough that he knows my name.

I write to my senators regularly, but they are republicans and don’t care what I write. My congressman is a Tea Party guy and he definitely doesn’t care what I write.

One more, how do you define what issues interest you enough to participate?
Perfect example @jca2 about the dogs.

What KINDS of issues will get you to actually make the effort to go to a meeting?

How do you feel about this statement:

Andrew Gelman argues that the “local” refers to “need[ing] local skills to win the primary election that gets them into their safe seat, and they need backroom political skills in the state legislature to keep their safe seats every 10 years.”

….
Later during those elections, O’Neill introduced a $1-billion jobs bill to the table. House Republican Leader Robert H. Michel of Peoria, Illinois opposed the bill, but O’Neill delivered an address broadcast in Peoria that showed how many infrastructure problems in Peoria would be fixed by the bill. Matthews wrote, “by hitting his rival where he lived, O’Neill translated a wholesale debate over national economic policy to the local, retail level”.[4]

Dear God no, we have staff for that.

More than I care to, as you now know sister…