[T]he revolutionary generation found a way to contain the explosive energies of the debate [liberty vs. governmental power] in the form of an ongoing argument or dialogue that was eventually institutionalized and rendered safe by the creation of political parties.
[The 1790s] was a decade long-shouting match.
Joseph Ellis, “The Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation”
As at the founding, today the shouting match drowns out most everything else. Yet today is very different, so different it calls into question whether those foundational institutions (especially political parties) are equal to rendering safe the contemporary shouting match.
With a long history in politics, policy and public opinion, I find myself pondering our circumstance today and asking “what have I learned” that bears upon what Abraham Lincoln timelessly said:
If we could but first know where we are, and whither we are trending, we could better judge what to do
In that spirit, I am interested in going upstream as much as possible to get at underlying and foundational trends, questions, issues. Root causes more than symptoms. Deeper dives…and other mixed metaphors.
You can get a taste by looking at my first posting, Portland 2.0 update.
About the author
I thought of titling this blog “A Cockeyed Opsimath,” noting that an opsimath is “someone who begins or continues to study and learn late in life.” The title is a lame take-off from the “cockeyed optimist” lyric in South Pacific. I think it fits and I like the sound of it. However I did decide it is a little too lame even though it captures my abiding sense of curiosity and belief in “if you know the answer, ask a better question.“
“The Shouting Match” better captures the arena of politics, governance and public opinion in which I have been a participant or referee for nearly 60 years.
There will be plenty about public opinion in these columns, all influenced by what I learned from Sam Lubell, a now forgotten pioneer in doing intensive, disciplined shoe-leather interviewing of voters to report in his syndicated columns, The People Speak and The Battle for Your Mind.
Although I chose not to carry on his work, it did influence my subsequent work in politics and the public sector. That work almost always was at the intersection of policy, politics, and public opinion (not in chronological order):
- Legislative assistant to US Senator
- Chief of staff to US Congressman
- Special Assistant to US Secretary of Transportation
- Director of Oregon Dept. of Energy
- DC representative and manager of corporate planning for Fortune 500 firm
- Executive Director for Policy and Planning, TriMet
- Owner of public opinion analysis and strategic planning firms
- (Civic) Chair of (former) Oregon State Board of Higher Education; vice chair OHSU Board of Directors; Board chair, Sightline Institute; Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA).