| Mr. Blum Goes to Washington
An exercise in participatory democracy by Howard Blum How many times have you told yourself, "Boy, I'd like to give that so-and-so in Washington, D.C. a piece of my mind" and never acted on the impulse? I know, not everyone has the financial resources, the time or the inclination to get in the faces of our national legislators. As a coordinator for The Concord Coalition, I exercised my First Amendment right to petition for redress of my grievances on a recent trip to our nation's Capitol. I was part of a six-person California delegation, joining over one hundred other concerned citizens from all across the country. Our objective was to encourage our legislators to agree on a balanced budget for the nation, a lofty goal that our organization has been working toward for over three years. This is my recollection of that experience. My journey had some inauspicious beginnings that I could say closely resembled the ongoing budget impasse in, as Geoff Metcalf, talk show host for KSFO San Francisco calls it, "The eighty-seven square miles surrounded by reality." I had a stopover flight (never again if I can avoid it) from San Francisco International through Atlanta and on to D.C. My flight to Atlanta was canceled and I had to wait for hours to get on a flight through Cincinnati since Atlanta was shutting down due to weather. When I finally arrived at my connection point, my flight to D.C. was canceled due to National Airport being closed for 'The Blizzard of '96.' After five and a half hours on the ground in Cincy I was off to D.C. I arrived at the hotel, having missed my scheduled initial briefing, more than seventeen hours after leaving home. You have to be there and put yourself within the "Beltway" to understand why it is the 87 square miles surrounded by reality. Our Capitol attracts countless thousands of people in pursuit of fame, fortune and power. Those in pursuit of special privileges, special treatment or special access arrive by the score with blank checks or perhaps suitcases full of money. It takes an extraordinary individual to pursue a career in public service as a representative in Washington. The process of getting elected has metamorphosed into an ugly and arduous journey that few people are willing to expose themselves to these days. No matter how virtuous or altruistic you are when you begin your career in public service, it is all too easy to be seduced by the influence peddlers and the corrupt looking for an edge. I like to think of myself as a well-read and well-informed individual. The fact that I write a daily financial newsletter requires me to keep up-to-date on financial and governmental events to keep everything in perspective. Once in D.C., it is painfully clear that if you are not there you do not have the whole story (no, I refuse to move there). Our mainstream media are criminally negligent in their responsibility to our society to keep the public informed. Even my daily review of the wire service stories, which few people ever get to read, falls short of fully informing me of important events. If you depend on your local newspaper for information, you'll never get it. It is easy to fall victim to "information overload" when you are in the eye of the storm. Having completed the obligatory and essential briefings, press releases, press conferences, interviews and talks with the folks back home on live radio, the real work began — one-on-one meetings with the legislators and key staff members of legislators. I personally spoke with one U.S. Senator, five members of the House of Representatives and the legislative aides or staff members of an additional two Senators and twenty-five members of The House. It was a whirlwind adventure that was informative and constructive for all parties involved. When you meet with them, you can relate to them as individuals instead of the symbols of power and privilege that many people now resent. They are faced with the unenviable task of making difficult choices that will be greeted by hostility, anger and recriminations. It is impossible to please everyone these days. Even a tax cut can no longer get a unanimous consensus. If you think they have an easy job, think again. After many meetings with people "On the Hill" (fortunately before my meetings with legislators who did not see things my way) I better understood that the fragmentation of today's society and the "single-issue" campaigns being waged by the special interest groups makes a difficult job virtually impossible. I can better appreciate the predicament that our national legislators must deal with on a daily basis. I came to our nation's Capitol fully prepared to be confrontational with those individuals who did not agree with our position and our priorities. After all, I was raised in New York City where confrontation and hostility are a part of everyone's daily life. I was convinced I would try to hammer them with facts, figures, data and persuasive arguments to see things the same way we do. I was in for the surprise of my life. Sometime between a press conference (the one where Senator Paul Tsongas laid into some big names in front of lots of TV cameras) and my first meeting with a legislator whom I had issues and differences with, something happened to me. My animosity and hostility mysteriously became empathy. I think I owe a thank you to Senator Tsongas for the change. In retrospect, it was what he said at the press conference that got me thinking. He vilified the editorial boards across America for creating a daily contest over who won and who lost on an issue. That is precisely what I was about to do in my meetings, wasn't it? I was going to make our meetings a contest of right and wrong. I wanted to win the debate for our side and get them to let go of their position and vote for what we wanted. I wanted to make them wrong by making us right. I was about to embark on an exercise that would have resulted in exactly what I find most troubling with American politics and society today. I was about to do what the ideologues on the right and the left were doing, the further polarization of the issues and the process. THANK YOU, Senator Paul Tsongas. My first meeting was with three other Coalition team members from California and Kevin Cronan, Senator Feinstein's legislative aide. Mr. Cronan was prepared for a fight since there have been differences in the past with the Concord Coalition. He was totally disarmed by the olive branch we walked in with. Instead of duking it out we were mending fences and building bridges. Instead of looking for differences we were looking for areas of agreement to build on. We all found ourselves in a situation none of us really expected — working in a spirit of cooperation. We all understood there was a problem that was in dire need of fixing. While we do not see eye-to-eye, we found ourselves willing to work for a compromise that would serve the common good. It was a wonderful beginning to a glorious lobbying effort. I left that meeting optimistic for the first time that an agreement could be forged by the different ideologies and different positions. Differences that up until now have been driving a wedge down the middle of our America. The remainder of my visits to offices and individuals was equally productive. When I knew I was visiting offices with different perspectives and different priorities I made a personal appeal for renewed cooperation. It is cooperation, sincerity and purpose that will ultimately build the prerequisite consensus to solve the monumental fiscal problems facing this great nation. When I was visiting those individuals who agreed with us, I thanked them for their continued support. Our efforts in Washington, from my perspective, exceeded all of my expectations. I wish I could have captured the spirit and energy that was in the air in Senator Feinstein's conference room that morning and put it in a bottle. I would love to be able to introduce that energy into the ventilation system of every building within the Beltway that encircles our nation's Capitol. Better yet, let's turn it loose on the world. Yes, I know our hard work has just begun. However, my long-standing pessimism for the future has been replaced by guarded optimism. An optimism that eventually clearer heads will prevail. A hope for the future of this great nation. Perhaps even a return to simpler times when people with the country's future at heart can resolve their personal differences through cooperation and communication. It can't hurt to hope. The future of our nation depends on it. Howard Blum is a mortgage broker and publishes several newsletters, including The Howard Line.
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