I have had the pleasure of seeing Washington D.C. work. It seems so long ago. Before “working” and “Washington D.C.” didn’t constitute an oxymoron and “compromise” wasn’t an insult.
On one particular day, I was in the room when a Cabinet Secretary of one party reached out to an iconic U.S. Senator from another. They both recognized the moment had arrived to lean into their convictions, overcome their strongly held differences, and get something important done for the people they served.
It was a scene I was to witness again and again with governors, Congresspeople, staffers and even constituents.
And it greatly saddens me that I recount these memories as historical nostalgia rather than current commonplace.
These days, what divides us hangs heavy in the air. A dust storm of anger and outrage. A smog of misinformation and mistrust. Weighing heavy on the bonds that hold communities intact. The fraying friction threatening to snap the tethers of our exceptional experiment in republican democracy.
As the head of an organization committed to leadership for the greater good, I have to ask myself, what are level-headed, solution-seeking residents to do in order to rise above the rhetoric?
First, we must recognize the pain. Regardless of what one thinks about the national drama, the anger and frustration you hear locally is not simply political theater. People who used to be main street middle class increasingly find themselves at the corner of Occupy Lane and Tea Party Way. Whether they turn hard left or hard right is based upon whom they blame. The storm has been brewing for years, yet the warning signs were largely ignored. Let’s not compound pain by ignoring it. If someone shouts something you disagree with, or even abhor, hear the pain lurking beneath the words.
Second, respond responsibly. Martin Luther King Jr. famously remarked, “in the End, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.” We are not called to engage in a shouting match, however the shouts cannot go unanswered. Silence is too easily assumed as agreement. Commit to a responsible, but clear, rejection of frustration that descends into demonization. Our Constitution severely limits our government’s ability to determine the appropriateness of what our politicians or peers say – reserving that responsibility for individual citizens. At times like this, the duty may feel overwhelming, but like the act of voting itself, each small illumination pushes back the darkness a little more. Eventually resulting in enlightenment.
Finally, we must model the change we believe in. If you reject name calling and isolation, then find ways to embrace people with different perspectives and collaborate. One of the most damaging accusations of the demagogues is that cooperation and compromise have failed. They want us to believe that the hopelessness they spread is our last hope. It would be nice if pointing to the thousands of historical local, national, and global examples of collaboration were enough to lift this fallacy, yet that has proven not to be. We must continue to find ways to work together, proving we still can. We must publicly engage in reasoned discourse, combining the best of our differing perspectives to create a future of hope and possibility.
Some time has passed since last I was in D.C. I can’t speak definitively about whether or not there are any people left there who are willing to cross an aisle in service of their constituents. But I do know that there are still words inscribed on a memorial to President Lincoln that reminds us that our country’s – and local community’s – future is the responsibility “of the people, by the people, for the people.” Let us prove our experiment in self-governance still works. Let good, reasonable people rise to this occasion to reject dehumanizing rhetoric, collaborate, and spread hope here in our Eastside community, in our country, and throughout our world.
James Whitfield is president and CEO of Leadership Eastside, a non-profit that convenes leadership for the greater good.
