Thankful for Three Lessons from Gov. Kitzhaber
Is there a better time to start practicing civility, acknowledgment, and inclusiveness than Thanksgiving?
Few people have more experience in governing and guiding Oregon than Governor John Kitzhaber. That’s why I’m grateful we’re still able to access his speeches via the State’s archives. His two cents on how politics should work are definitely worth a nickel (even after adjusting for inflation and accounting for changes to politics in Oregon since Governor Kitzhaber left office). Candidates, elected officials, and agency heads in power today should study Kitzhaber’s 2001 legislative message. While reflecting on his more than two decades of public service, Ktizhaber remarked:
[T]his Legislature works when we labor not in the interest of a political party, but in the interests of the people who sent us here, people who think of themselves first as parents, farmers, entrepreneurs, or teachers; people who are citizens first and only second, if at all, partisans.
Since 2001, the interest of the people hasn't received sufficient attention from legislators. The people have seen their power diluted by special interests that have relentlessly donated campaign funds and partisan powers that care most about their base, not the overall wellbeing of Oregonians. These trends are already shaping the current race for governor. Two candidates have already raised more than $1 million dollars, with vast sums coming from folks unlike the teachers and farmers mentioned by Kitzhaber. And, today even those teachers and farmers find it more and more difficult to place their citizenship ahead of their party membership, a sad reality reinforced by Oregon’s closed primary system.
A citizens-first mentality was central to what Kitzhaber regarded as a matter of our inheritance as modern Oregonians — being “guardians of the solitary” that united prior generations of Oregonians. That solitary seems hard to find beneath the layers of political mud that have left us in a Crater-Lake deep hole of partisanship. That same partisan has undermined what Kitzhaber identified as another inherited obligation: maintaining our capacity for self-governance. As pointed out by Rich Vial, a thin sliver of Oregonians — those most affiliated with the two major parties — may effectively determine the state’s governor for the next eight years. In other words, the current political system operates as if the 950,000+ non-affiliated Oregonians delegated their power to their most partisan neighbors — a deal I think few Oregonians would voluntarily make.
Thankfully, Kitzhaber outlined specific lessons for Oregonians to heed to pass on that solidarity and penchant for self-governance.
First, he shared the lesson of civility, of “being able to disagree without being disagreeable.” We’ve got some work to do there, but as efforts like the Oregon Way and Proportional Representation Oregon gain traction, I think civility, rather than partisan squabbles, can become the norm in Oregon’s political discourse.
Second, he offered the lesson of acknowledgement, pointing out that “everyone who comes here deserves to be acknowledged for what they bring…whether you always agree with it or not.” Acknowledgement can similarly be hard to find these days. Labels as simple as R and D can convince a substantial portion of the population that an individual’s viewpoint is either worth accepting without question, or challenging without thought. That’s not what Kitzhaber hoped for us. He knew that acknowledgement “requires open-mindedness and humility; a willingness to believe that someone else might know more than you do; or even that you might be wrong.” Imagine the solidarity we could build by being more open-minded and humble.
Third, he touted the value of inclusiveness, suggesting that “policy is more important – and ultimately more powerful – than partisanship – and to recognize the danger in isolating ourselves from each other on the basis of our party registration.” Yet, isolation is the name of the game these days as social media and flawed electoral systems push us into narrower and more partisan corners.
Twenty years out from Kitzhaber’s speech, we should all be grateful for the map he provided for a more deliberative and productive political system. Is there a better time to start practicing civility, acknowledgment, and inclusiveness than Thanksgiving?
If you know of an Oregonian that embodies these lessons, leave their name in a comment or reach out to Kevin (kfraz@berkeley.edu). It’s those sorts of Oregonians that can help restore of role as guardians of the solidarity that allowed us to accomplish so much together.
Happy Thanksgiving, Oregon Way community!
NOTE
This was a special Thanksgiving post. Our regular The Way email will go out tomorrow. Look forward to a new piece from Sarah Iannarone, as well!
Kevin Frazier edits the Oregon Way between classes at the UC Berkeley School of Law and Harvard Kennedy School. He grew up in Beaverton and is a proud graduate of the University of Oregon.
Photo credit: "more John Kitzhaber" by Sarah Mirk is licensed under CC BY 2.0
The Republican and Democratic national committees and out of state PACs increasingly meddle in state elections. They have realized that control of the state legislature and governorship allows favorable gerrymandering and election laws that impacts control of the houses of Congress and the presidency.