Over at Zocalo Public Square, Joe Mathews tries to convince Bono to run for local office. Here is a taste:
Dear Bono,
Now that U2’s residency at the Sphere in Vegas has successfully concluded, it’s time for you to get really creative—by returning home to Dublin to prepare to run for mayor.
I know, I know—Dubliners don’t actually elect their mayors, so you can’t run. At least not yet. Which is precisely why they need you there.
You’re the best candidate to bring real local democracy to your home island, famous for its fierce nationalism. If you championed local democracy there, the world might well take notice—and build the strong local governments that humanity will need to survive.
You know as well as anyone, from your globe-trotting to fight poverty and HIV/AIDS in the Global South, that the world’s national governments aren’t up to protecting us from our planetary problems—climate catastrophe, pandemic, war, poverty, economic crises. National governments are too busy making things worse. Meanwhile, our international institutions remain too weak and fractious to accomplish much of anything.
That has dumped all the world’s problems in the laps of local communities and their governments. But they lack the authority and resources to tackle big challenges.
Read the rest here.