December 30, 2021
7 New Year’s Resolutions from I, Citizen
By: Gabriel N. Green, State Policy Network
Every new year offers us a fresh sense of purpose and energy to improve our lives and make a difference in the lives of those closest to us. Many of us will set goals for personal growth, career ambitions, and relationship building. But there’s one other area that we can’t afford to overlook: How will we, as concerned citizens, make a meaningful difference in our states and communities this coming year?
Wanting your community and state to thrive is a broad and lofty goal—one that might seem out of reach in light of the immense power of a political class that doesn’t know anything about your neighborhood, your schools, or your local businesses. It’s tough to come up with resolutions for local, civic engagement that are possible for an individual and yet have the power to encourage positive change. Fortunately, we don’t have to start from scratch.
In his new book, I, Citizen: A Blueprint for Reclaiming American Self-Governance, SPN Executive Vice President Tony Woodlief offers a great starting point for 2022 resolutions that can help you focus your time and impact as an American citizen.
Remember that “restoring authority to states and communities isn’t just about restaging DC battles closer to home. It’s about doing government differently, deliberatively, and with an aim towards greater understanding, consensus, and compassion.” If we start political discussions by focusing on the things we have in common, empathy and understanding become a lot easier for the things we don’t have in common.
We can do this by strengthening our collaborative identities, “such as citizen, neighbor, co-worker, parishioner, friend.” This can be as simple as participating in a few more activities within a club or organization, or even just taking the time to chat with your neighbor or have them over for dinner. It’s not just about jumping into a political discussion after saying, “remember, we’re both neighbors.” It’s about having a relationship built around what you have in common outside of political disagreement. This way, when we clash over political differences, it’s in a respectful way informed by the knowledge that the participants are more than their political beliefs and that everyone is just trying to make their country and community better, even if we disagree on the how.
Americans today are distrustful of government, and often for good reason. With power concentrated in the hands of a political class ensconced in DC, it’s hard to believe that those making the decisions that affect our lives truly care about us, much less know anything about what makes our communities work. In I, Citizen, Woodlief reminds us that declining trust doesn’t equal hopelessness: “Only politicians and political scientists interpret American distrust of Washington as a threat to society.”
They political class might give us good reason to be distrustful, but I, Citizen challenges us to remember that we all have a role—however small—in the current state of affairs. Woodlief notes, “You may not have sworn an oath, but that doesn’t absolve you of responsibility.” Good citizenship isn’t about blindly trusting our leaders, but rather holding them accountable. It means knowing who your local leaders are, encouraging them to do good work, and holding them accountable when they don’t.
The best way to do this is by starting at the local level, where you’re more likely to know your elected officials or to be able to get to know them. Local leaders are also inherently more inclined to value your opinion because you’re part of a much smaller voting base than those of national politicians.
In an independent people like Americans, “loyalty” can often sound like the exact type of blind adherence that is the opposite of “good citizenship.” Fortunately, I, Citizen reminds us that there’s a deeper meaning to loyalty within a democracy, which we, as citizens, may have forgotten. Democracies thrive on a diversity of opinions among citizens, whose different beliefs and desires can inform robust discussions and ensure that nobody’s values get left out.
We can demonstrate true, democratic “loyalty” by listening to our fellow citizens and allowing ourselves to truly understand what they value. This doesn’t mean we have to agree with everything they want or think, but we should understand that they believe things for a reason beyond just “ignorance” or a “desire to destroy our country.” Good citizenship means knowing and trusting our fellow citizens to want what’s best for themselves and their communities and having robust discussions and debates to find the best way to accomplish those desires. As Woodlief notes, “Sometimes we are loyal allies, other times we are loyal opponents. What doesn’t change is the loyalty.”
Don’t allow the political elites to keep your attention on national issues; it makes everything seem too big to solve. This is intentional. The political class wants us to feel powerless in the face of massive obstacles, so that we will more readily hand over what remaining power we have so they can “just fix it.”
There’s a better way forward, which will lead to more solutions and fewer problems: a return to self-governance. Focus on your community, and the problems it faces. These problems won’t seem so big as the national issues, and you’ll find you have more in common with those you need to work with to solve them.
Many of us try to consume locally already. We’ve known for a long time that locally spent dollars are better for the economy, and we also get a sense of pride in supporting shop owners we know rather than faceless corporate megastores. Woodlief calls out one local commodity that’s long been a missed opportunity for local impact: “One product that frequently gets overlooked among those of us who try to buy locally, however, is journalism.”
One of the best ways the political class pulls our focus away from our communities is with nationally focused news. Not only does this distract from our communities’ problems, but it aggregates the most extreme cases of problems the world faces, thereby increasing our feelings of hopelessness. Choosing to focus on the problems we can solve, right at home in our states and communities, starts with choosing to consume more local journalism.
American politics often feel tainted because the language we use makes it that way. The political class has intentionally worked to cast political disagreements in “good-versus-evil theatrics,” because this takes away the room for compromise and cooperation. They have different concerns and desires than the rest of the American people, and their extreme tones serve to “drive out both the problems and solutions we care about from the arena.” By keeping politics nasty, they’re able to keep good people away from the power that they cling to.
The political class encourages us to be ideologues because ideology “doesn’t just guide what you think, [but] makes demands on what others should think.” Principle on the other hand means knowing what you believe, while understanding that others might believe differently. This doesn’t mean they’re evil, just that they have a different background and perspective from you. If we use reconciliatory language — and acknowledge that a policy disagreement is not in fact a battle between good and evil — we will create a lot more room for compromise and solutions. We will also create more room for principles, such as SPN’s belief that states and communities are best suited to solve most problems because they’re closest to the issue, without being beholden to the never-compromise-attitude of ideology.
A great way to be more principled, without falling into the traps of ideology, is to take the time to write out some of your own principles, and examining why you hold them. If “the unexamined life is not worth living,” the unexamined opinion is certainly not worth having. One of the fastest ways we fall into blind dogmatic adherence to ideology, is when we hold opinions we don’t understand but feel compelled to defend from perceived attacks. By becoming more comfortable with the reasoning behind your principles, you’ll also be better at explaining your beliefs to others.
By turning politics into perpetual battles and making politics one of the nastiest professions, the political class has alienated the people we most need in leadership. Therefore, one of the best steps we can all take as citizens is to embrace “the greatest threat to modern political elites: leaders who would rather solve problems than build political careers.” Look for the leaders who don’t seem interested in picking a fight, but who instead the seek unity and collaboration that make lasting solutions possible.
One of the best ways to do this is by reminding ourselves and our friends that a candidate working with the opposite party is in fact a good thing, not a sign of weakness. “Bipartisanship solutions might give credit to the other side,” but that’s okay, because we’re all on the same side as our fellow citizens. Being principled doesn’t mean refusing to compromise, it means ensuring that your values are accounted for in the final solution. Find, encourage, and support leaders who demonstrate principles, rather than ideological blindness.
Arguably the best place to find leaders looking to solve problems is, you guessed it, in your communities. Someone working in Washington, DC, even with the best intentions, is trying to find solutions to problems that more than 370 million of us can live with. That’s often too many people to find common ground, especially in the politically toxic climate of Washington, DC. If we all start locally, and find leaders who are providing a sense of unity and collaboration in our communities, then soon enough the majority of leaders in this country will be the good kind.
While encouraging good leaders and holding them accountable is crucial, this can be difficult to do without the right information. Even with local leaders, it can be difficult to keep track of everything they’re doing, especially as we go about our own lives. Fortunately for all of us, we’re not alone in this task. There is an entire industry that revolves around keeping our government accountable. State Policy Network is a part of this industry, as is our entire “nationwide Network of watchdogs, policy analysts, independent journalists, and public-interest legal teams.”
Given the size and scope of the federal government, and especially the bloat within its unelected executive agencies, the Network represents the best “chance of evening the odds” to better favor our citizens. And this goes beyond keeping Washington in check. Woodlief observes, “We have no hope of restraining the feds so long as we allow state governments to mimic them, so supporting state-based policy organizations that keep government accountable is essential.” Keeping up with local happenings, knowing what your local leaders are up to, and finding opportunities to participate more in local government, is all made easier and more effective by organizations like the State Policy Network and our state-based partners.
Get to know the organizations in your state, and follow their work. You’d be surprised to learn just how much they’re already doing to keep government in check. And, often, they’ll have insight into ways you can get more involved too.
To get the full blueprint for restoring self-governance in your community, put I, Citizen at the top of your reading list for 2022. See more details about the book and purchase your copy at icitizenbook.com.
