Too much of a good thing?

Northeastern Minnesota prides itself on citizen involvement in civic affairs. We are really good at rallying public opinion and encouraging press reaction. As such, we get equal and, sometimes, over-reactive responses from elected officials. We view this attention as good and necessary.

The way Northeastern Minnesotans approach civic affairs and receive attention from the press and elected officials may be unique to our region. Having spent seventeen and one-half years in the Twin Cities (equipping me with a different perspective) I find this kind of zealous involvement to be one the foremost challenges to developing good public policy.

Of course, I am not saying that citizen involvement is bad. Rather, I contend just the opposite. Citizen participation in public affairs is a good and necessary thing - if it is done right. Like so many other things in America – advertising, political affairs, sales of goods and services – we have to sort out the facts and decide for ourselves what really matters.

School closings, city budgets, and political campaigns did not draw as much attention in the Twin Cities as they do here. Perhaps the non-reactionary response of those living in the Twin Cities is due to being over stimulated by the vastness of the metro area, issue fatigue, or just plain non-interest. My speculation is that people in the metro area are accustomed to change. These “things” happen and residents adjust.

Duluth is different. We Duluthians get all wound up whenever we hear about a school closing or a project that forges ahead without the consent of the masses. We go to meetings and surmise that if the elected officials carry through with their intentions, parents will pull their kids out of the new school, or that somehow we’ll all end up in a sea of blacktop. We make a ruckus; the press picks it up; and voila! - policy is changed to accommodate those making the most noise. Good policy is thwarted.

The citizens of Northeastern Minnesota need to begin thinking long-term. What are the facts? What policy will serve us best in the long-term? Until we endorse these qualities and aspects of civic involvement versus the reactionary involvement, we can only expect our public officials to produce paltry policy.