The next section of the book that I read focused on how participation in local government can be improved. The author’s recommendations focus upon increasing awareness though the ways suggested in the book: publicly financed television ads and more advertised (through flyers) town meetings seem somewhat underwhelming. We are already bombarded by so many political television ads and flyers that we mostly tune them out. This is one area where I feel my senior project could make a real difference. Educating students about the role and value of local government could increase citizen participation from an early age. One challenge that the author mentioned was that local officials (as you mentioned in your comment) may not be in favor of increased voter awareness/participation. The author argued that there exist three types of local government employees. The first category is those who are using local office as a stepping stone to fulfill greater political ambitions. The second category are those who genuinely want to help a community in which they have a personal stake. These first two categories both want increased participation, in order to increase their personal publicity and increase the profile of issues they care about respectively. The third category of official is the problem. This category consists of elected officials who are not genuinely invested in the community and do not want career advancement. They merely want the power, influence (and often salary) that comes with a local government position. There is no incentive whatsoever for these people, and they are often the most powerful, to increase citizen awareness of local government.