Power vs Authority

I wanted to take a few minutes this morning to throw out some thoughts on the difference between power and authority.

A few months ago Jack Johnson came to the local Democratic Party asking for support for his Oversight & Reform Committee. The committee would evaluate county activities and present ideas on how to prevent or eliminate waste, corruption, etc. I thought the support for this would be overwhelming, but did get some opposition. I didn’t fully understand the opposition, so I’m sure I’m not going to do it justice here. However much of it was based on the idea that this committee would have no power to do anything so therefore, it was worthless.

Jack’s committee might not have the authority to make changes, but it would have plenty of power. For one thing it would be a comfort to people to know that there is a body specifically set up to perform oversight. That alone would restore some trust in our local government. Trust in our county government is going to be important if the county ever wants the people to vote for something, such as funds for a new jail. As an oversight body, it would be expected to present opinions on certain activities. These opinions, if publicized, would undoubtedly shape public opinion. Does public opinion have any authority? No. Does it have power? Yes.

At another Dem meeting, someone asked ‘Is the County Administrator more powerful than the Board of Commissioners?’ I answered yes. I don’t think my answer was appreciated (they weren’t asking me the question anyway, I was butting in) but I also am not sure that it was understood. I’m not picking on our Administrator, but let’s be honest about this … that office rivals the County Clerk in terms of information control. The Administrator controls the flow of information to and from the commissioners — our governing body. That office also controls the agendas for board meetings … the meetings where decisions are made. That office controls the list of candidates for board appointments. These appointments control things like the Health Department, the County Medical Health facility, zoning, etc. That’s important stuff. If you’re the Administrator and you see a candidate you don’t want on the Mental Health board, maybe that candidate doesn’t get presented for consideration.** About the only commissioner related information (I can think of) that the Administrator’s office doesn’t control would be the minutes of meetings. Those are the responsibility of the Clerk.

Does the Administrator have more authority than the board? No. More power? Absolutely.

Think about the mass media for a minute. Does the Detroit News have any authority over the people of Michigan? Of course not. Do they have any power? They are relentless tearing down the Governor, propping up the Mackinac Center, and basically promoting a bunch of right-wing minority opinions. They perpetuated the false iPod story. They are opinion makers. They have the power to impede progress.

How about the police? They are opinion makers too. Their words influence not only prosecutors and judges, but the public as well. They give their opinions to the press. They decide what information gets into the official police reports. Do the police have the authority to declare who is guilty and who is innocent? No. Do they have the power to do so? Absolutely.

What about James Dobson? Does he have any authority in the military? No. But ask an officer in the Marines or ask someone at the Air Force Academy about the power he has in those branches of the military. He can deliver the religious right to the Republican Party. Therefore, he has power.

Power doesn’t require authority, and often exists where authority does not. We know this because we call our Congressmen, or we send letters to the editor, or we blog, or we evangelize, or we do whatever it is that we do. We know we don’t have authority to make the changes we want, so instead, we use our power.

And this is what you should expect from your government too.

Does the Board of Commissioners have authority over everything that we would like? Maybe not. They can’t directly control certain things. As a board they can’t do anything if they can’t get a vote on it.

But do the commissioners have other kinds of power? They have influence and they have access to media. Seems to me there’s a bit of a bully pulpit there.

Do your city and township officials have a lot of authority? Not really. Can they get the attention of the public? Probably.

And you have more power than you think you do, too. There’s always some kind of power within your reach. Sometimes you have to be creative to find it, but it’s there.

Remember that, the next time your elected officials tell you that they can’t help you, or the next time you feel you can’t do anything. There is always something that can be done.

If you want to speak out on something, here is some contact info for your local (Shiawassee) media.

**To my knowledge, that has never happened. It’s just an example.