I called my 80-year-old father the other day.
“Dad I was just elected to be the Majority Leader in the Colorado Senate.”
My father was born during the Depression and fought in the Philippines during the Second World War.
“Does it pay more?” he said.
Two Scenarios: In scenario one people are sitting around a table trying to work out the solution to a problem. People are friendly. They have different ideas but they are open to considering approaches that they did not originate. Their primary goal is to solve the problem.
Scenario two. Same table, but the people consider the other people at the table to be enemies. They distrust everything that the other side says. A primary concern is who gets credit for the solution, if there is one. Another concern is fixing blame for the fact that there is a problem in the first place.
People talk to me from time to time about why American politics has gotten so polarized. There was a time when political discussions were most like the first scenario above. Now they are more like the second.
This is my theory. There is something in the limbic, reptile portion of our brain that perceives others as being a threat. After all we evolved in a jungle. During the cold war we had a common, communist enemy. Self-preservation demanded that we stick together. Now the formidable Russian opponent is gone and we see other Americans as the enemy. Republicans versus Democrats.
Add to this two issues--guns and abortion. Most issues have a middle where two sides can meet and reach resolution. These two issues might have a middle, but no one is there. If a Democrat, bent on conciliation, starts to walk to the center, to see if there are any Republicans moving in the same direction, the first thing that happens is he loses all his Democratic friends. As he moves to the middle he finds that there is no water, no support, no sustenance. He dies of thirst before he finds the Republican who is trying to meet him in the middle. The Republican died of thirst as well before he got to the Democrat.
Since so many seats are safe--decided in primaries--and because there is a disproportionate number of ideologues who vote in primaries, the moderates who could have tried to mediate conflict don’t get to Congress or state legislatures. The public suffers. Problems don’t get solved.
The good news is that there is a political cycle. When the people in one party start to feel that they are entitled to the majority and can never lose it, they get arrogant and sloppy. Meanwhile the other party gets focused and committed.
As on November 2nd the change can be sudden.
As most of you know, for the first time in 44 years the Democrats hold the majority in both the Colorado House and Senate.
I am committed to working to solve the problems Colorado faces. They are large and looming. Our budget conundrum will result in the de-funding of colleges and universities by the end of the decade. Other needed community services will also be on the chopping block.
If we fight over credit and blame we will never get these issues handled. However, there are good people, Democrats and Republicans, who want to help create a solution to this and other problems. I am hopeful and optimistic.
I hope you are well.
Sincerely,
Ken Gordon
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