"Fifteen minutes or so. That's all. Just enough to know what's happening in your own backyard — and keep your hands on the ropes."
The military trains people to serve within a structure — there are orders, ranks, a mission, a clear chain of command. Local government is the structural opposite. Nobody tells you what to do. There's no CO. No one issues orders to attend a county commissioner meeting. The whole system depends on citizens just deciding to show up, without being asked, without a rank, without a reward. That gap is the story.