By John Creighton

I am a fan of experiential learning.  It makes sense for doctors to first be residents, for teachers to first be student teachers, and for electricians to first be apprentices.  People learn to be better at their work when they practice.

"The Mayor's Desk"

The same holds true for governing ourselves.  We are a stronger democracy when people have experience as public decision makers.  I serve on my local school board.  It is a far different experience to make decisions on behalf of a community than it is to make personal decisions.  There are frustrations that go with holding public office.  But, on balance, I recommend the experience to everyone.

Not enough of us are getting practice at democratic governance.  Consider these statistics from the U.S. Census Bureau:

In 1952, the U.S. population was between 150 and 160 million people.  In that year, there were a total of 116,807 federal, state and local government units.  In 2002, the U.S. population was around 290 million people.  Yet, in that year, there were only 87,576 federal, state and local government units.

The decline in governmental units is due, almost entirely, to school district consolidation.  There were 67,355 school districts in 1952 and only 13,506 in 2002.  These losses were offset in part by special district governments such as water and fire districts – governing bodies almost invisible to the general public.  There were 12,340 special districts in 1952 and 35,052 in 2002.

What does this mean?  Back of the envelope math suggests there were as many as 200,000 fewer elected officials in 2002 compared to 1952 even though the population nearly doubled.

It also means far fewer of us – both in real numbers and, perhaps more importantly, as a proportion of the total population – have any experience serving on a governing board.  Simple math suggests the odds of knowing a person who holds public office are a lot lower, too.

The implication is that a lot fewer of us are gaining practical experience in the skills required to sustain a democracy.  What happens when few of us learn how to govern?  I can’t imagine it’s a good thing.

No one likes to say we need more politicians.  But, for the sake of our democracy, maybe we do.

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John Creighton writes on community life and public leadership at johncr8on.com.  He can be found on Twitter @johncr8on and on Facebook.

Photo credit: Flickr user jbcurio

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