Room at the table for better Democracy

Department of Health and Human Services, 1986
My good friend and me with Bill Gee, intern Milan Petrovik, and Secretary Bowen

I had a phone call yesterday from a friend on the "opposite side of the aisle" to let me know that death had claimed another, probably the last, of the old generation of Republicans in our community. "Old" here means the old way of doing things, what the party used to be, the party of civility, wisdom, and doing the right thing for the community. Bill was so kind when I came back to town after college, wrote an endorsement for me, and helped with the honorary renaming of a street in town to Bowen Avenue in 2018. I think democracy and leadership meant something different to that generation. I know it means something different to me. Democracy means compromise and joining of ideas and voices to create a more perfect union. Democracy is not excluding people from the table, eliminating voices, or marginalizing others.

But that's what our democracy has become.

I recall attending monthly Republican breakfasts and listening to our party chair proudly exclaim that we've all but made Democrats extinct in our county. Which of course is not true, they represent roughly 35% of the population. What he meant was that our party had found a way to exclude them from the table, to eliminate their voices. There's no need to compromise, no need to entertain ideas other than your own, and no need, really then, for democracy. One-party rule in this county has been the rule for decades, and what has it gotten us? Just a desire to steer harder to the right, and little to take pride in.

A good friend told me once that I was a non-conformist. That was the first I had been called that, and it was in relationship to church leadership. He meant it in a good way, but as the reason for exclusion. I do question reasons behind decisions. I don't go along with ideas because they are politically popular (secular or religious). I stop and ask "why" because others, probably in the minority, would certainly have the same concerns. We lose something of community/collaboration when we push aside ideas or individuals in order to maintain power, to not be questioned, or to ensure we get our way. It goes against gospel-oriented living. I've seen it plenty in churches, in politics, in community planning. Frankly, it's why I can't get excited about our county's Stellar designation....."the table" could've been so much more representative.

Civility before party in this holiday gathering.

I have a type A personality and it tends to be my Achilles heel. Because I've recognized that, I try harder to give all voices around me equal time. People who identify as Democrats can have great ideas. People who identify as Republicans can have some really terrible ones. Personally employing democracy, leadership, is listening to both and making decisions that are best for the community. It's bringing minorities of any kind into decision making to make the whole better. It would help us heal as a nation.