Local Democracy in America
In America, elected officials should be elected. However, at the local level, those in power have sometimes chosen not to hold elections.
And this has happened. Multiple times. In the same modern American city. In the 21st century. It took a law in that city to guarantee that elections are held.
“With Local Democracy in America, author Mic Farris beautifully dissects the tense relationship between local government and its constituents, revealing hard-fought battles to ensure fair representation. Farris manages to depict in visceral detail a sadly all-too-familiar David versus Goliath struggle – at a cost no voter should have to pay – along with a poignant reminder that democracy is only as strong as our willingness to fight for it.”
Local Democracy in America
On Elections and Their Role in Self-Governance
Thousand Oaks is a relatively new American city, incorporating in the 1960s at a time of rapid growth in the Southern California region. It started from humble Western beginnings, serving as a backdrop for Hollywood’s “Golden Age,” and eventually became home to the global biotech giant Amgen and over 125,000 residents.
Local Democracy in America is a three-part series on American & Californian democracy viewed through the local lens of one modern American city: the microcosm of Thousand Oaks.
We visit three episodes in Thousand Oaks history from the 1990s to the 2020s, where the ideals of American democracy gave way to anti-democratic tendencies for keeping power. We also remind ourselves of the importance of key American democratic principles: the integrity of elections, the right to vote, and the meaning of representation.