If you thought this heading referred to
the current pitched battles for the Republican and (more especially)
Democratic nominations for President, then you�ll be disappointed. Then
again, maybe you won�t be, especially if you�re weary of reading,
hearing, or seeing coverage of these races virtually around the clock, for
over a year now.
We all need a break from time to time,
even in a democracy, and even with a campaign that has introduced us in both
parties to exciting new candidates who are in turn exciting voters in a way
that hasn�t been seen in over a quarter-century. After all, even the most
ardent political junkie reaches a point where coverage becomes overage, and
excitement becomes incitement, to think about or do something else for a
while.
Like our nation, your electric
cooperative is itself a democracy, overseen by a board of directors elected
from the membership, by the membership. And, as you can imagine, electric
cooperative elections bear little resemblance to national politics. Their
mix of limited speechifying and neighborly handshaking resembles a town hall
meeting or a PTA gather�ing
more than a traditional political campaign.
But the post of cooperative board member
is highly important, even if it�s not highly visible. The board members
represent the interests of their fellow member-consumers as they make all
policy decisions for their cooperative.
Virginia
�s 13 locally owned and controlled electric cooperatives have some 116
individuals serving in these key elected positions, which are substantive,
not ceremonial. Their duties involve many hours of studying relevant
materials, participating in meetings, and fielding calls from and visiting
with those they represent.
In their backgrounds and occupations,
electric cooperative board members form a fascinating tapestry of
Virginians. Woven within the fabric of these rural, small-town and suburban
leaders are teachers and postal carriers and small business owners;
corporate executives and lawyers and farmers; clerks of court and engineers
and college professors; and veterinarians and retirees, too, to name but a
few vocations represented by Virginia�s electric cooperative board
members.
As we discuss regularly in these pages,
all cooperative organizations � from housing to agricultural to electric
co-ops � live by seven principles. These guiding principles were first
formulated and articulated in
England
more than 150 years ago, by some weavers who figured they could more
successfully market their products if they worked together. They figured
right, and the cooperative guidelines they developed later coalesced into
the Seven Cooperative Principles, which were ultimately adopted across the
globe by cooperatives of every sort.
(As a concept, of course, cooperatives
have been around since men and women first realized that, by working
together to build shelters and grow crops and domesticate animals and
protect themselves, they could accomplish things that none of them could do
alone.)
Of the Seven Cooperative Principles, the
second one outlines the need for �democratic member control,� which sets
forth the practice of �one member, one vote.� This second principle also
embodies the way in which a cooperative is controlled by its members, who in
turn elect the representatives who guide the cooperative and set its
policies. In the case of electric cooperatives, this principle has been a
steadfast reason for the success that we�ve enjoyed throughout our nearly
75-year history.
Beginning late this spring, through the
summer and into early fall, electric cooperatives across Virginia will be
holding annual meetings, at which board members will be elected or
re-elected to these important posts. These meetings also feature reports
from management about your utility, fellowship with your neighbors, and
often refreshments and entertainment. Please put this annual meeting on your
family�s calendar as soon as your cooperative advises you of it.
American civic life has always focused
on the unifying act of voting. In doing so, we all thereby participate in a
sacred act made possible by the sacrifices of countless heroes, both
celebrated and anonymous, over the last 232 years. Your vote is crucial to
the process, whether it�s on the dazzling stage of a Presidential
election, or the down-home setting of a cooperative annual meeting.