Face the Government...Officials, that is

Within the course of a week, I had some opportunities for face-to-face interactions with government officials.

On Thursday, August 22, I attended a town hall meeting with Danny Davis.  He is the U.S. House Representative of the Illinois 7th Congressional District, which covers an area stretching from downtown Chicago through the West Side of Chicago and into some of the Near West Suburbs, including Oak Park.  He was holding a few town halls in various suburbs this month.  Being unable to attend the town hall in Oak Park, I went to the one held at Berwyn City Hall.

I went mostly to have the opportunity to see Congressman Davis, and hear what issues other people had to mention.  Unfortunately, I felt that Mr. Davis didn't use his time efficiently, especially because he let Charles W. Watkins, a man involved in the implementation of a healthcare exchange in Illinois under the Affordable Care Act, take a good deal of time to explain the implementation.  When I attended Peter Visclosky's town hall forums while a student at Valparaiso University, in Indiana's 1st Congressional District, which covers much of the northwest part of the state, he used his time more efficiently to cover lots more questions, doing so within an hour's time.  This town hall with Danny Davis lasted two hours, and he didn't field nearly as many questions.  But he has an interesting style of talking, in which he inserts lots of little stories and anecdotes.

A couple days later, at the weekly Saturday Oak Park Farmers' Market, members of the Oak Park Village Board of Trustees had a booth at the market, taking time to meet with people.  When I stopped by, I chatted very congenially with trustee Glenn Brewer and Board President Anan Abu-Taleb.

Then, on Wednesday evening, I went to the Oak Park Public Library for a community forum hosted by Mr. Anan Abu-Taleb and trustee Bob Tucker.  They held it as an opportunity for residents to share what's on their minds about happenings in the village.  A lot of issues were covered, including developments in commercial areas, the forestry department, bikers, and implications of the conceal-carry law.  Someone even wondered out loud about the merits of red-light and speed cameras in Oak Park.  The moderator, Julie Samuels, noted that there was potential for the start of many good conversations based on what people had to say.

(You can read a news article about this forum here: http://www.oakpark.com/News/Articles/8-29-2013/Lively-crowd-turns-out-for-town-hall-forum-/)

After the forum ended, I spoke briefly with LaShawn K. Ford, the Illinois State Representative for the 8th Illinois House District, which covers the southern part of Oak Park where I live.

These experiences demonstrate to me why America is great.  Our government is based on the people's involvement.  So whenever any government official comes to a public setting to meet with the people, I take advantage of such opportunities, as much as I can.  I feel it is important for all Americans to be engaged with their government officials, because this is part of the process of governing themselves through elected officials.  Even if there are disagreements--as I do not agree with many of Danny Davis's liberal view points, and LaShawn Ford's, for that matter--it's still important to engage in those conversations, in a civil manner, of course, because that ultimately leds to meaningful action to make America a better place, from the local level up to the federal level.