Lack of rural candidates bodes ill for representative government

A growing reluctance by people in rural communities to run for elective office is a slow-motion crisis in the making.

According to a recent story in the Appleton Post-Crescent, half of Wisconsin's elections went uncontested in 2023.

The people who study such things point to a decline in rural populations, inadequate compensation for the workload, hyper-criticism and the loss of a sense of community once so analogous of rural life.

The struggle to find rural candidates is happening here, too.

For example, in 2005, no one ran for elective office in Magnolia. No one.

The lack of candidates has persisted there since 1993.

By state law, whenever a Magnolia Village Council vacancy arises, the sitting members appoint someone to fill it. It's worked for them but only because the incumbents are committed and willing to serve honorably.

The question is why are fewer and fewer small-town Americans refusing to toss their hats into the ring?

The problem offers a good opportunity for a bipartisan primer on how to run for office and why it matters.

I know. Don't wake me up.

To be fair, running for office can be the psychological equivalent of walking barefooted on hot coals while flogging yourself on the square. Doing so in a community where everybody already knows everything about you probably poses more of a challenge to be taken seriously.

Another reason may be the way public service has been skewered. We have people denigrating all elected officials as crooks and liars, and deriding public employees as "unelected bureaucrats."

The deliberate erosion of trust in public institutions has been abetted by social media and shouting-heads on TV to the point that even librarians are now painted as radicals.

The challenges are exacerbated by harassment, which now goes far beyond the usual grousing we've all done about "the government."

During the COVID-19 outbreak in 2020, Tuscarawas County Health Commissioner Katie Seward had to issue a statement asking the public to be more respectful to her staff, people whose only crime was in trying to serve their neighbors. Staffers were receiving complaints and even threats for simply trying to mitigate the spread of a virus which would go on to kill more than 1 million Americans.

David Helpap , a researcher and associate professor of public and environmental affairs at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay, told the Appleton newspaper: "People may have interest in making sure the school board budget is balanced or that the parks are good quality, but they don't necessarily want to deal with the national issues that have moved into these local governments."

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In 2021, the Marlington Local School District lost a board member who quit and moved out of the community in response to threats and vandalism.

When good people leave their communities and offices under such circumstances, it concentrates power in even fewer hands, and potentially opens the door to those who see elective office as little more than a path to power and a means to "set things straight."

They're often the ones who view government as the enemy and have no qualms about trying to unravel it, all while ignoring the fact that compromise in governance is a necessity.

Rural Americans already have the burdens of shorter life expectancies, less access to health care, and higher instances of substance abuse. The fewer residents who are willing take up the mantle of elective office, the less likely their needs will be addressed and their voices heard.

Charita M. Goshay is a Canton Repository staff writer and member of the editorial board. Reach her at 330-580-8313 or charita.goshay@cantonrep.com. On Twitter: @cgoshayREP

This article originally appeared on The Repository: Lack of rural candidates bodes ill for representative government