I see that the "Warrenbsurg Citizens for Environmental Excellence" are upset because public officials didn't attend their all-day propaganda session, aka Earth Day. The group, which is supposedly an advisory group to the Warrensburg City Council, apparently sent letters to 70 officials, only 3 of whom attended. They're now wondering how to get more to attend future meetings.

One of their suggestions was to have a "community event" that would draw voters, making the elected officials more likely to attend. That's often a good idea, but when members of an interest group normally vote heavily for a single party, there's no reason for officials from either major party to pay attention to them. The party they oppose isn't going to win their votes and the party they support can afford to take them for granted.

If the local environmentalists are really that serious about getting elected politicians to listen to them, they need to support candidates who reflect their views. If they like the Green Party's program of environmental Socialism, they can put candidates on the local ballot by petition. Any time an alternative party pulls enough votes from a major party, that party starts listening to them.

One of the concerns of the environmental group also seems to be the inability of city government to force residents in the unzoned rural areas of the county to comply with whatever plans they come up with. Fortunately, there's another alternative party that believes that government solutions, such as zoning, often just exacerbate problems. The Libertarian Party already has a local organization and a website, johnson.lpmo.org.