For those who haven't voted yet: take an hour or so to look up the local candidates on the ballot. Usually your local news station or paper will have an actually useful voter guide where they ask the candidates questions, including the minor candidates for district courts, School Board, water district, tax collector, etc.
This year, when I looked up the candidates, I found about 1/3 of them focusing on things like racial equality, environmental justice, mask-wearing mandates, and all sorts of crap that goes beyond the purview of their office. I don't remember ever seeing this kind of virtue signaling at the local level before--sometimes they even admit what they're talking about isn't handled by the office they're running for.
So if you care about reducing the political nuttiness around you, cast an informed vote to block this kind of stuff in the place it most affects you directly. Don't let the lunacy at the national level distract you from the same thing taking hold in your local bureaucracy.
(I voted a week ago, focusing on populist candidates and "throw them out" choices at most levels. It wound up being a mixed ticket instead of sraight-line. My locality could use a shake-up.)
