Does anyone care?

By: 
Robert Maharry

A recent conversation I had with a Grundy County resident I’ve gotten to know well over the last few years summed up a lot of my feelings, even if she and I don’t see eye-to-eye on all of the issues. Apathy and willful ignorance are everywhere. It’s a difficult cycle to break.
           
I’ve been thinking about the idea of transparency in government lately—on the local, state and national levels—and whether it’s better applied in theory than in practice. Most of us know about the Grundy Center school board’s decision to stop taping its meetings and posting them on YouTube (thanks to Michaela’s reporting), and it drew the ire of fair number of Facebook commenters incensed about the seemingly brazen attempt to hide the dealings of a publicly elected entity from the constituents it was supposed to represent.
           
But when it came time to speak out about it at the next meeting, one person showed up. Maybe it can all be chalked up to scheduling conflicts that don’t allow parents and patrons to attend in person, or maybe it’s worse: maybe people would rather give off the appearance of caring on social media because it’s easier than actually trying to change anything.
           
To boot, our state leaders aren’t setting much of an example on similar matters. Governor Kim Reynolds, embroiled in another self-inflicted scandal, openly defied a law that her predecessor—a fellow Republican—had pushed for to keep the sordid details of her friend David Jamison’s pattern of sexual harassment and subsequent firing away from the public. Of course, they came out eventually (in a strange twist, Jamison was keenly aware of the post-“Me Too” landscape and persisted anyway), and now she’s dealing with a mess of her own making.
           
This isn’t a partisan problem: from Hillary Clinton to embattled Missouri Governor Eric Greitens, lawmakers often feel that they themselves are above the law, and, more frighteningly, above the basic tenet of transparency. Personal shortcomings and failures prior to entering the public sphere are one thing, but misuse of funds, political deception and blame shifting are quite another. It’s no wonder that no one trusts our institutions anymore.
           
On a local level, however, I’d like to believe that government could still operate openly and honestly. I’d like to believe that individuals with differing views can share their positions without coming to blows afterward and that big problems can still be solved regardless of which party gets the credit.
           
But it takes commitment from all parties involved. People have to show up, ask informed questions and demand answers, and they also have to care. However you feel about it, the hearing on the Ivester Wind Farm is a prime example of citizens exercising their civic duties.
           
“Does anyone have philosophical discussions about big issues anymore? And does anyone even read the paper anymore?” the aforementioned resident asked me on Monday.
           
Point taken, I thought. For as much as journalists love to blather on about their own self-importance, we’re largely ignored among the general populace, and speeches like the one Michelle Wolf delivered at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner on Saturday—however biting and critical of the often incestuous relationship between so-called reporters and politicos it may have been—only serve to widen the chasm between “coastal liberal media elites” and the average folks actually working for a living in Trump country.
           
On the other hand, the Iowa Legislature won’t pass a meaningless resolution to honor Pulitzer Prize winners Art Cullen, and they’ll probably do the same to the Des Moines Register’s Andie Dominick. They must be fake news. The average reporter these days toils between obscurity and complete ignominy, and even conservative blogs are firing writers who aren’t pro-Trump enough as the world becomes one giant echo chamber.
           
We’re stuck in a self-fulfilling prophecy, and it’s trickling down to the state and local levels. But in our own county and our own communities, we can do something about it: if nothing else, ask for transparency and openness in your government. Regardless of how you feel about the way your elected officials vote, you’ll have the information available to decide when it’s time to replace them.
           
That’s got to count for something.  

The Grundy Register

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