Crossposted from
unbossed
Well, my Red State Reflections on unbossed are reaching an end. The luggage is unpacked and I am back in my blue enclave in my blue county in my blue state, which is actually a bluish shade of purple with some moving toward red.
But this is not the end. This is the time to draw some Conclusions.
The truth is I have no conclusion to offer. The problems rural areas face are complex and difficult to repair as a result of long neglect. The best I can do is offer some thoughts to help us move to a position where we can make progress at solving them. Addressing rural problems is just part of addressing the problems of every sector in this country.
I fear that we are failing to train our eyes - and keep our eyes trained - on a critically important story, one that is taking place just off our Interstates and off our radar screens.
So, let me call this WSAPD -What Should Angie Paccione Do?
Angie Paccione (D) has announced for the house seat now held by Marilyn Musgrave - CO-4. It is shaped more or less like a 7 - taking in the northeastern counties and then down the eastern side of Colorado. The top of the 7 includes two college towns. The vertical part of the 7 is rural and much of it is similar to the areas I traveled in the western part of Kansas. It is huge and with a sparse population. But Paccione needs to win votes from this area and, more important, she needs to represent the people who live there.
Paccione is most identified with the top of the 7. So she needs information about the needs of those constituents. It is not enough to assume that people are people with the same needs the world around. She also needs to connect with the people of the eastern counties.
Many candidates the Democratic Party will be running will have similar problems. Angie Paccione is a proxy for all of them.
How can Angie get the information she needs?
We need to talk.
We need to converse, discuss, jabber, blab. We need to let our hair down. We need to listen and feel we are heard. We need to see. We need to be shown.
So how can my - your - our - questions and ideas become part of our political dialogue - in rural areas, in towns and cities, and throughout our nation?
Here are a few ideas for ways to make that happen.
Listening Commissions - To Make the Invisible Visible
Much that matters in this country is invisible. We need to make the invisible visible.
Here is the basic idea. Each Democratic Party in each city, county, town, and congressional district must assemble a blue ribbon commission composed of notable professors, religious leaders, intellectuals, jurists, and other leaders. Why do I suggest using high status people as commissioners? I am not being elitist. First, we need their skills and expertise to make this work. Second, bringing in high status people sends a message to those who will appear before the commission that they are being taken seriously. Third, only by using high status people can you get media attention and credibility.
Each commission will hold hearings throughout the boundaries of the area. The hearings can have a focus - for example, work, agriculture, communities, youth, the aged, housing, health, the environment - or topics can be open.
People who appear before the hearings should be encouraged to be specific about the problems they face in their own towns. They should also be asked what they want to see happen in the future and encouraged to provide suggestions to get there.
Each commission hearing will invite in regular people who want to be heard. No vetting, not managing - these will be honest and open opportunities to be heard. Reporters will be invited to cover the hearings. A recording will be made of all proceedings, and these recordings will be made widely available.
Each commission will produce a written report that summarizes findings and makes recommendations. Every effort will be made to publicize and use the results.
Angie needs to attend these hearings. Candidates within each area should also be invited to be a part of this process and should pledge themselves to listen. And to act on what they learn. They should make no speeches. They should say hello and then sit down and listen.
The process proposed is not without risk and danger. But if this country needs anything it is an open and honest conversation amongst ourselves. Only through this process can we respond to what people need and long for.
I base this proposal on the New Zealand Sweating Commission of the 1890's. The record of testimony opened the eyes of the whole country to the way workers were being brutalized and created a demand for change - and long lasting change happened. This is exactly what we need.
Being Real and Really Winning
I have some insights gained from having the opportunity to learn from union election campaign processes over the last couple decades that I think cast light on how the commissions need to operate and what needs to be done with their results.
Here is what happens after an employer learns a union is trying to organize its workers.
The employer's owners, officers, managers, lawyers go into a full press court anti-union campaign. It can include firing pro-union workers, but I think the most effective tactic is for employer representatives to tell the workers that they have see the light and want to change their ways if they can only be given a chance to learn what is bothering the workers and make it right.
Employees then go out and vote against the union, even though the employer will probably not change, is lying, and a union is in the employees' interest.
There are several factors that make this work.
First, people tend to be forgiving. So if you admit wrongdoing and then ask for forgiveness, they are likely to comply.
Second, people have so many problems that eat at them, and no one ever asks them to talk about them - unless you are paying them. So asking people to tell you their problems gets people to open up and gets them to like you. This feeds into the forgiveness idea.
Third, promising to change now that you have seen the light is very powerful. Think of the number of abused spouses who forgive and go back to their abusers. We hope for the best from those who have power over us.
Fourth, it is hard for people to make change, so they tend to choose the devil they know over the devil they don't know. It is hard to take on a new regime - idea - ideology and easier to stay with what is known even if it is unsatisfactory.
Here is the kicker. Employers do this and get away with it. Once. Maybe twice. But if they do not make change, if they do not follow up on their promises, if their workers feel lied to, they will vote union.
What does this mean for the Democratic Party? Especially Red State Democratic Parties and Candidates?
I think that a listening commission has great promise to heal our country and make real and positive change. I think Democratic candidates need to be involved with them and be open to what they learn through this process.
I think Democrats need to promise to listen, to be willing to change, if that is the right thing to do, and to make promises . . . but only if these are promises they can and will keep.
Your turn
So there are my thoughts and suggestions. I have tried to raise questions about what I saw on my Red State rambles. I invite your participation in this process. What are your ideas and questions?
How can we have an open conversation among our citizenry throughout this country we love and want to make lovable?