That’s how my almost 90-year-old mother characterized her
2016 Presidential voting options. After attaining voting age in 1948, she cast
her first vote for Harry S. Truman. Knowing that she might not live until the
2020 election, she laments this year’s choices, feeling that she really does
not have a choice.
Her words came to mind as I read statements
recently by two African-American women of the millennial generation, one who
described her decision about the major party candidates for President as the process
of choosing between a racist and a liar, and the other who described the
prospect of casting a vote in the upcoming election as the choice between
“being stabbed and being shot.”
Those comments, from an old white woman and two young black
women, illustrate the cynicism and frustration of voters. Surveys
reveal that close to two-thirds of potential voters do not “trust” either Donald
Trump or Hillary Clinton.
Meanwhile, disenchantment among Americans about their
government runs deep. A 2015 analysis of surveys of the United States public by the Pew Research Center
showed that, “Currently, just 19% say they can trust the government always or
most of the time, among the lowest levels in the past half-century. Only 20%
would describe government programs as being well-run.”
Three ways to build
We owe it to ourselves and future generations to enable
voters to feel that they have many good choices, and that they have sound
information and understanding to make the best choice. To that end, three types
of “building” seem worthwhile.
Build processes to
inform the electorate. Provide individuals with the information and tools
they need to make informed decisions. While the news media might like to focus
on attention-grabbing topics such as Donald’s obsession with President Obama’s
nativity, or Hillary’s characterization of her opponent’s supporters as
“deplorables,” other issues of much more significance deserve intense
consideration: child care; education; poverty; public safety; and the list goes
on.
Voters deserve objective, understandable information on such
issues. At Wilder Research we strive to provide this, by documenting and
interpreting community trends through Minnesota Compass, for example, and by conducting research to shed light on which
programs and policies actually work to improve the quality of life.
Build multi-partisan
collaboration. Political parties serve a valuable purpose. However, if
allegiance to a party (or to oneself) becomes overly rigid, partisanship
becomes counterproductive. As one researcher
who studies political polarization noted, problems arise not when political
parties disagree, but when the disagreement devolves into “partisan warfare” in
which “combatants question the motives, integrity, and patriotism of their
opponents.” Unfortunately, we see a lot of that today – from both of the major
parties.
We need leaders, from local to national levels, who have a
commitment to fixing problems and to working with partners of all political
persuasions, not just their own, to move our communities forward. At Wilder
Research, we attempt to foster such collaboration by engaging people with
varied perspectives in the design of our major initiatives. In that way, we
build ownership across political lines to nurture jointly-crafted understanding
and problem solving on significant community issues.
Build good leaders in
all parties. Integrity and competence do not have just one party label. Regardless
of our own political leanings, we should champion the development of skills
among candidates in all parties and thus create a body of legislators who will engage
in robust consideration of issues, just the way that the creators of our
democracy intended, and then make decisions and move forward in a positive
spirit of compromise. Many such elected public officials now sit in our
executive and legislative branches; we need more of them.
