My immediate reaction to the Republican failure to repeal the Affordable Care Act was relief. Relief that people I care about wouldn't lose their health coverage. Relief that strident ideological conservatism had scuttled the ship and united opposition from the Democratic Party had won the day. ​After my first reaction, I was tempted to give in to a desire to gloat or mock or enjoy the sight of the humbling of boastful people. But this got me thinking about how we ought to behave when we win. If we are interested in building local organizations that have political power, we must think beyond the very first issue that we can win, and imagine how to build up our power. Ideology changes very little over time and when ideologies clash the winner seeks to fundamentally weaken the loser. If I'm engaging in a political clash of ideologies the ultimate goal is the silencing of my political enemies and the enshrinement of my own beliefs in the law. In Community Democracy, however, the goal is not to silence political enemies, but to build political relationship with people who are different. So when we win, if we want to build power for the long haul, we must be gracious to those who have lost. The reason is that we care about behavior. Behavior can always change, the past does not determine the future. Just because I am on opposite sides of an issue with an elected official today does not mean that we will be on opposite sides of the next issue that comes up. In the future, our former enemies may be crucial allies. It is not wise or necessary to weaken someone who is a potential ally in the future, they will remember how we treated them when they were stinging from defeat. I'm not saying that I expect the Democrats to magnanimously praise the Republicans for their commitment liberty. They are locked in an ideological struggle with the Republicans and both parties are looking to silence their opponents because each believes the other to be dangerous. For those of us who do local community organizing, though, we should not treat our local political opponents this way. Democracy needs local leaders to lead the way in charting a new path for our nations politics, which are poison at the top. Remember, we don't make peace to be nice. We make peace to build power. Having won on an issue, it's important for the victor to make peace, to publicly recognize the loser for the things they do well and that are shared in common. This helps maintain the possibility of relationship and working together in the future. If we want to make a difference in the world by organizing ordinary people, we need to have a plan for how to behave when we win. Item number one on the agenda when we win is to publicly thank and recognize our friends and allies, the people who were in the fight with us. Item number two on the agenda is to publicly praise and recognize our now former enemies.
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AuthorI'm a Christian, a progressive, a pastor, and a community organizer. Archives
August 2017
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