I cannot write about Donald Trump today. After his Labor Day \u201cpress conference\u201d turned rant, there is nothing really new I can say. If after watching him there, folks can still support him, then there is no persuading them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But I can write about denial. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
There is a great commercial about illegal drug use. It features the town of \u201cDenial, Ohio\u201d where the kids would never surf the medicine cabinets for pharmaceuticals, or get high. They are too \u201cbusy\u201d doing \u201cgood things\u201d. The tag line is, don\u2019t live in Denial.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
America is now not just a land of two political parties, but of two sets of basic facts. We cannot even agree on how many people have died from COVID-19. There are a significant number of our citizens who believe that it is all a \u201choax\u201d; just as they believe that Trump\u2019s cooperation with Russia was a \u201choax\u201d, and his recent comments about the military is a \u201choax\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
We can\u2019t even agree (anymore) about the cause of the Civil War. A war that ended one hundred and fifty-five years ago is now an object of controversy. Some now seem to believe that slavery wasn\u2019t the issue. They live in Denial.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As a local teacher\u2019s union President, I learned about negotiations. After months of talking, with neither side moving an inch, both sides would share the cost of hiring mediators. These are professionals who would come in and take both negotiating \u201cteams\u201d through a series of exercises. If they were good at their job, the \u201cteams\u201d would re-discover the many areas where they actually had common goals. The mediators would work through those commonalities to reach small agreements. They would build on those successes to finally deal with the \u201cbig\u201d issues, usually time and money.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sometimes it worked, and we would mediate our way to a contract. Sometimes the battles prevented even those small agreements, and negotiations broke down. Then a combination of factors broke the stalemate. Community pressure on one side and teacher concern for their jobs on the other would ultimately result in some kind of deal. While there were times when we cleared our classrooms out and picketed the School Board, our local union never had to actually \u201cgo out\u201d on strike. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
We are still a nation of commonalities that, for the moment, we are refusing to recognize. Neither Red nor Blue has a monopoly on supporting the military, or even first responders. But somehow one side has claimed it all for themselves, and the other side has allowed itself to be maneuvered into saying that the police are all bad? No one on either side can reasonably believe those absolutes: that all military is good no matter what, and all police are bad no matter what. That\u2019s just stupid. But here we are.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We are a nation in need of mediation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
But back when I was in the local union leadership, I also understood that there would always be those who couldn\u2019t be happy. No matter how \u201cgood\u201d a contract we managed to get, there was always the \u201crump caucus\u201d of teachers who felt like the negotiating team \u201cgave away\u201d too much. And there were also community members who felt that teachers were always \u201coverpaid\u201d and \u201cunder-worked\u201d. Those vocal extremes could make life miserable, but seldom contributed to solving problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And America is the same way. There is a significant number of Americans, perhaps as much as twenty-percent, who have embraced a set of facts so far outside the norm that there is no commonality to work towards. They will never be satisfied, and should Donald Trump lose, they will continue to make life miserable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And on the other side, there are a significant number of Americans, many of them younger folks, who don\u2019t believe that anyone working in \u201cthe political system\u201d is honest, or acting in good faith. They have no belief in the goodness of America, and don\u2019t see the similarities that all Americans share.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So who are the mediators in a world in Denial?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Red or Blue, Trumper or Never, there is a commonality of Americans. We want a good life, and a better life for our children. A better life includes a climate that\u2019s safe, a government that protects, and a wage that allows for more than just work. We all want to worship, or not, as we choose, and not have someone else\u2019s beliefs forced upon us. Isn\u2019t that a funny thought: everyone wants religious freedom, but many want others to live by the tenets of \u201ctheir\u201d beliefs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We need to leave \u201cDenial\u201d and get into mediation. It\u2019s the only way that America survives. But that\u2019s not happening until after November \u2013 so in the meantime, try to find the little successes in your circle of life. Believe it or not, we all share some things in common; whether we wear a \u201cMAGA\u201d hat, or a \u201cResist\u201d t-shirt. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Don\u2019t live in Denial.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"