We, The People

You know, Lafou, I've been thinking.  A dangerous pastime... I know.

You may have noticed that we tend not to use our farm blog or Facebook to attempt to sway others to vote one way or another.  However, there are some things I do wish to say regarding the upcoming elections and I hope you will take them in the spirit they are intended.

Friends Are Always Friends
I have friends that identify at various points in the "political spectrum" and because of this, I try to remind myself to avoid belittling any opinion that I do not agree with.  First, I know I am far from perfect, so it is not my place to sit in judgement of others.  Second, I am fully aware that there is NO SUCH THING as an easy answer.  Every solution put forth, whether if favors conservative, liberal or other viewpoints, has shortcomings and advantages that requires hard thought.  Third, I suspect many of you are like me, we tend to grow tired in conflict and sadly, we often do not take the time to really check our facts.  I also believe that the majority of us don't even know how to find the facts necessary to make a truly informed decision.  And, yet, we seem to think it is ok to take a position without any consideration for other options.  We happily glom on to anything that already agrees with our initial opinion.  And we tend to let the simple (and incomplete and often inaccurate) answer be enough.

In the end, I am comforted by the fact that friends are simply my friends.  This is true regardless of whether we agree politically, religiously or otherwisely.  And, because I value my friends, I remind myself constantly to be respectful and to remember that the reason we might disagree on things so strongly is because we care.  And, that's usually one of the main reasons I like my friends in the first place.

Those People We Like to Gripe About - Well, They're Us
It's so easy to say things like - "That @$%* government messes everything up.  They need to just leave me alone and let me do my thing."  After all, in our own eyes, we are never the problem.  It's always someone else, isn't it?  And, the government is so big, it's pretty easy to pretend it isn't made up of a large group of people who have dreams, aspirations and abilities that run the gamut  - just like you and I.  In fact, I bet each of us has friends who are employed directly or indirectly in government-funded positions.  When you make a blanket statement about the organization, you make a statement about your friend.  Is that really what you wanted to do?  And, if somehow, you try to say, "Well they're the exception."  Just remember that all of the other government employed are someone else's friend or relative.  They can't all be the exception.

And guess what?  Those folks running for the various offices are also people.  While I won't make any claims about those who like the big stage, I will tell you that most who run for state and local offices are people who are generally running for office because they wish to serve.

And yet, all we hear about them are the general negatives that apply to anyone who is a (fill in a political party).  Clearly, because they identify a certain way - they are clearly evil. And, apparently we respond pretty well to all of the general negative ads that are out there now that have very little basis in fact and are usually not specific to the candidate in question.

How terribly sad for us.

If We Really Care - We'll Simmer Down and Think Harder, Be Kinder
As I said earlier - I believe that many of our ideological disagreements come because we care.  But, when we fail to respect others' ideas/ideals and we fail to consider alternatives and we fail to thoroughly check out what is true then I have to conclude that we do not care enough.

I'd like to believe that we are all better than this. I'd like to challenge myself and anyone who reads this to work to improve.  After all, the real strength of the United States of America is...  us.  We can demand integrity.  We can encourage conversation and compromise.  We can overcome our tendency to respond to sensational advertising and emotional appeals when some careful thought and investigation would be better.

Frankly, I would rather require that ads for each candidate only feature the candidate discussing policy options they currently favor and discuss how they see the role they would have as our representatives in government.  What do you think about that? 

Here is Where I Make An Exception
I stated at the beginning that we try not to use our blog to encourage certain votes.  I will say that I DO want to encourage you to vote.  Our country needs us to participate in the process and it needs us to honor the process.  By honoring and respecting how things are done in our democracy and using civil discourse we build ourselves up rather than tear everything down.

An example of this is this past year's efforts to encourage change in the state of Iowa that would help farms such as ours deal with chemical misapplication.  Brian Schoenjahn of the Iowa Senate (12th district) is my representative and the representative for many who read this blog.  He was willing to hear what I (and others) had to say about the problem.  He allowed us to educate him with some of the necessary details.  He and his staff went to others to learn more about the issue and then he was responsive as we lobbied for change.  We were able to convince him to advocate on our behalf.  Perhaps we didn't get everything to happen that we wanted in 'our perfect world.'  Perhaps Mr. Schoenjahn doesn't see all of what we want in the same light we do.  And that is fine.

Why?  Because what matters is Mr. Schoenjahn did what a public servant is supposed to do.  He responded when his constituents asked for something.  He listened respectfully while a case was made and requested additional information in hopes that he could learn enough to properly advocate for a solution - or perhaps decide there wasn't enough cause to go looking for a solution.  During the process, I felt as if I actually had a say in how things happen in our government.  Isn't that how I am supposed to feel?

We don't necessarily need more Democrats or more Republicans or more Libertarians or more Green Party members.  We need representatives in our government who know what it means to be a responsive and responsible lawmaker.  We need people who won't shut down or begin to sneer at you because you are not in agreement with them.  We need problem solvers, not problem makers.

Because I have had some direct interaction with Brian Schoenjahn, I have come to see him as a problem solver.  Therefore, I will endorse him for the Iowa Senate, realizing that my endorsement will likely do little to convince anyone else to vote for him.

What I am MOST hopeful for is that each person who does read this blog will become more involved in the day to day governing of our nation so that they too, can become problem solvers.  And, in so doing, they can also identify our public servants who are more a positive part of the government that is made up of us.

We, the People.

Go vote! I, the Sandman, have spoken.