Silly Season

What is so silly about an election year? It's democracy in action, no? A chance for us to exercise our civic duty to cast a ballot for our leaders. Too often the folks who remind us about our right fail to explain why it is important so when we aren't being bombarded by campaigners or ads, we forget that we elect our officials.

This piece from The Economist outlines the poor job "rich countries" have done in recruiting top talent into government. I can't agree more but it isn't just the US federal government. Our City Halls are filled with old ideas and too many people satisfied with the status quo.

Here is a list of all the mayoral races this year and if your city is on the list, go out and cast that ballot and more importantly get involved! It's your money, demand that it work for you!

I decided to put together a list of endorsements from newspapers on mayoral races in large cities:

New York Times -Bloomberg*
New York Post - Bloomberg*
Houston Chronicle - Locke & Parker (open seat)
Detroit Free Press- Bing*
Boston Globe - Menino*
Boston Herald - Menino*
The Seattle Times - Mallahan
The Charlotte Observer - Foxx (open seat)
The Plain Dealer - Jackson*
Atlanta-Journal Constitution - No longer endorses candidates

*Incumbents