After all the talk about how our voting's being taken over by large blocks, making our democratic process a disgrace and un-American, it seems that apathy may kill our country in the end. Sure, we used a bit of hyperbole getting folks to read our main story about school budget votes and board elections this week. But we believe abysmal is the right word when you look at trends, and the hyperbole involved in switching local school votes to a ward system instead of the current "at large" voting in place.

What happens, down the line, when some districts simply don't vote? Or the representatives from them get elected by so much smaller numbers than those elected elsewhere? Do we start gerrymandering school wards according to various formula to ensure some parity in terms of actual representation?

And what happens when even fewer candidates start to show up for local positions? Does our form of government slip further into the world of appointments, a dangerous territory when it comes to possible corruption. And even worse when you consider how many already sit back and complain about how things are run already, backing up their distaste with ever-widening spheres of conspiracy theories on why things keep getting worse.

We congratulate everyone who won this week, and the valid big-time race that still emerged in Rondout Valley, or Pine Bush for that matter, where local teachers were able to come out in enough force to ensure a seat on their school board.

But we also feel we can, should, and have to do better.

On another front, have any of you read about the Tennessee politician arrested for plotting to drive up to the Catskills, one county over from us (and about an hour or so's drive) to rain bullets and terror on a religious community of four decades standing out in the Delaware County country? Robert R. Doggart, in his early 60s, had been a candidate for Congress just last year, and "was hatching an elaborate plot to massacre the inhabitants of Islamberg, a Muslim community in the Catskill mountains of New York, according to FBI and federal prosecutors," according to the news reports. He was about to do reconnaissance as part of a bigger plan to bring in southern militia folks.

Oy... what a horrible fever dream? On the one hand, one of our more liberal states is forced to hand down a death sentence for a crime within its borders, despite objecting to such things, and on another, we have these sorts of plots unfolding. What gives? Are we losing something that once held us together as a people, or just finding anew that which split us asunder 150 years ago and led to the institution of the holiday we'll be celebrating this weekend in general, and Monday in particular: Memorial Day.

But all that does bring us to the modern idea of memorializing, which started shifting away from the military after 9/11, shifted back towards our soldiers during the long years of our Iraq and Afghanistan endeavors, and seems to be again shifting towards first responders and non-warring service.

Could it be that the past year's rethinking of our policing policies, and problems, has forced a general consensus that we've become too militaristic as a people, and possibly a tad too hyperbolic in our saluting all warriors?

These are very interesting times, filled with massive demographic shifts, as well as attitudinal swings that it may take a decade, maybe even a generation, to figure out. Are all our accepted systems for self-governance, and self-control, going to last? What's going to give?

Thank heaven it's a local election year, which used to be a time of increased voter turnouts, because once upon a time local mattered more than whatever happened down within the Beltway. It allows us to practice democracy on a homefront level, and see where our real issues lie, before being fed a full year of battling polls, PR campaigns, and endless debates whose substance is constantly questionable.

Have a happy, family-filled and sun-drenched but not-too-hot weekend filled with fine healthy food, good cheer, and loads of friends!

And be sure and get out to vote next time you can. It matters!