Power and Politics

Salacious?

Zach Balaskovits
3 min readMay 5, 2020

Since yesterday’s (yet to be published) follow your passion? article, I have been thinking quite a lot on what it is I can do to better my community and the world as a whole. This morning I came to an interesting fork along that path: analyzing and writing about my local city council meetings.

My thinking started at straight up becoming an alderman (lol), but further thought made it clear that that may not be the best idea, nor fesable at this time. Though, I believe the feasability of it is not non-existent.

The council meets twice a month for roughly an 1.5 hours. This seems extremely boring on the surface. And to be honest, I'd bet most of it is. But, thanks to the story of Alladin, we know the value of a diamond in the rough.

Plus, I find myself drawn to "important" meetings. When watching Game of Thrones, I would always get hyped to listen in on the meetings of the most powerful players in the realm. On the one hand, the meetings are being held by normal people, such as you or I (excluding The Mother of Dragons, obvi). But on the other, the decisions made by these normal people shape the future of the kingdoms.

That is great power. And it's enticing.

Of course, Game of Thrones is romanticized for your viewing pleasure. But, there is a reason men have sought and often coveted power throughout history. With power comes control, and what man doesn’t want to control, atleast, his own life?

And yes, I do realize just how slippery of a slope I am treading on. "What is Zach saying here?" "Is he a calculating, power hungry tyrant waiting for the right moment to strike?" "He always did seem a little off to me." Time will tell, I suppose...

Regardless, I imagine covering these city council meetings would be beneficial for multiple reasons. Personally, I would gain valuable experience in the art of covering politics. Not to mention the wealth of insight I would aquire from listening in on the deliberations. If I'm going to have a positive influence on American, and for that matter the world, than perhaps the best course of action is to begin at the bottom. As for the cummunal benefits, at the very least breaking down the happenings of these meetings would allow for citizens to be more engaged without having to suffer through the monotony.

It is possible, and somewhat likely, that the Waupaca County Post already covers these council meetings. However, it is tough to tell if this is so as much of their website is behind a paywall.
I await reply from their senior editor.

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Thanks for reading. Don't forget to exercise today :)

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P.S.
If you enjoyed Game of Thrones, or the show Vikings, I would highly recommend The Last Kingdom on Netflix, which I’ve recently begun watching with my mother. It is another of many quest for power stories. Like Game of Thrones it is based on books, so you can rest easy knowing that the story is well thought out.

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