Thoughts from the Middle

Republican versus Democrat

By

Robert J Fischer

While the national media has occasionally discussed the growing interest in school board elections and school board decisions, until recently, I had not considered the implications.  As a previous 10 year school board member and board president, I have a fair understanding of the role that school boards play in decisions regarding issues facing local schools. 

When my son told me that the local school board was having problems with recruiting new board members, I wasn’t surprised.  Still, in spite of the controversy over mask mandates and vaccinations, I thought there might be more interest.  My son told me that the pandemic and associated mandates had created a toxic environment in the district.  Individual board members did not want to be caught in the middle of the disagreements, given the degree of hostility. 

Then today I read about school board elections in Wisconsin.  For the first time, I noted the degree to which political affiliations were playing a part in elections.  Political parties were spending thousands of dollars on election materials.  When I ran for school board, the only money spent on my election came from my personal funds.  My platform was not based on political affiliation.  No one asked me about my political leanings.

Today’s “we/they” mentality exhibited in Republican versus Democrat and other dichotomies, while not new, is considerably outside the past norms– and unhealthy for our democracy.  Far too often I hear friends disparage views as “Those Republicans” or “Those damn Democrats”.  While the differences between dichotomous views are normal and generally healthy, nothing is accomplished by rigid inflexibility. 

In my opinion there needs to be more effort placed on finding middle ground, or at least putting the best interests of democracy ahead of party loyalty.  The recent vote on Judge Jackson is an excellent example of narrow partisan politics.  Judge Jackson should have received 100 votes, not 53.  Senator Graham voted no.  His statements reflect that while she is no doubt highly qualified, she is too liberal for a Republican Senator to support.  Although, he has supported her for a superior court judge!

The conflict of political ideology has now reached low level positions, for example, school board elections.  In the past, school board membership was not about party affiliation.  Large sums of political money were not involved in campaigns.  The issues were generally about the personal qualities of those running for office, and statements regarding their personal philosophy regarding education.

We need to relearn civil discourse.  Listen and disagree, but don’t make the issue so personal that you fail to see the other person’s position. Keep dichotomous views, but don’t forget that there are commonalities.  People from other countries are still looking to become citizens while many Americans seem focused on their personal agendas forgetting about the strengths and benefits of living in a society where we are free to express disparate views without fear of physical harm or government censorship!