Civil Discourse

Old NC Senate Chamber

This afternoon, the local school board is meeting in Raleigh to take a second vote on doing away with mandatory year-round schools. This comes as the result of elections at the end of last year that saw a group of new board members elected after running on promises to do just that. They also promised to do away with busing instituted to maintain an economic status balance in the schools of the county.

Given the fact that these people were elected, I’m not surprised that they are following through on their election promises. But many people in the community, especially those afraid of a return to segregated schools are highly upset with what is going on. You see, the rest of the story is that there was a very light turnout for the election with just a little over 10% of eligible voters participating. Seems the majority of opinions may not have been represented in the election of the new majority to the school board.

Unfortunately, the rules are not made by the majority of people in a group unless the majority takes the time and makes the effort to vote. That’s just the way they system works. So until there are new elections, those in office have the right and the obligation to govern according to their principles and their promises.

Keeping that in mind, there is still an opportunity to influence the decisions these elected officials will be making. People can write, phone and e-mail school board, or any other elected official, and communicate their opinions. In fact, not doing so is somewhat irresponsible when important matters are under consideration. Unfortunately, it appears that civil discourse is not possible at any level of government in this country.

Any discussion of issues from opposite points of view too often degenerate into name calling and finger pointing. There is absolutely no interest in compromise, or even trying to identify the best solution for a problem. Take a look at the national debate over health care reform as a prime example of what I’m talking about. Both side agree on one thing: the system is broken. But the Republicans and Democrats are so entrenched in the solution being put forward by their own parties there is no room to look for the best solution that is acceptable to both parties.

If the polls are correct, today’s election in Massachusetts is going to give Republicans the votes they need to halt the passing of the health care reform package backed by Democrats. Since the two parties are so far apart on solving the problem and addressing the issue, in all likelihood nothing will be done to change health care and the problem will only get worse.

As citizens, isn’t it time that we began getting rid of elected representatives that only care about political philosophy and ignore the real issues? Isn’t it time to demand that correcting serious problems become more important than getting reelected? Until that happens, we are going to be stuck with what we have, which is an economy in trouble, a growing decline in the middle class, and social systems that are deteriorating in front of our eyes.

I seriously doubt that any real change in our political system will happen until we voters learn to communicate with each other in a civil way. Railing against others because they are liberal, or they are conservative, or they are right wing, or they are left wing…and on and on…will get us nowhere. A desire to find solutions that work, in a spirit of cooperation and compromise will allow us all to prosper.

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