Getting a Grip on the Power for Change
admin November 16th, 2007
(Mark, Media Marketing Director) John Zogby, of Zogby International, posted an interesting letter to the editor in his hometown Utica Observer-Dispatch (find the entire article here). Zogby reads government’s consistently poor performance in polls [congressional democrats fair worse now than OJ in ’95?!] to suggest that the next president will have to redefine federalism.
“Voters are angry and disillusioned. Their faith in governmental institutions is at a record low. Much of that has to do with failure in Iraq and our damaged image abroad, but even more it has to do with Katrina and a pervasive sense that government at all levels is disconnected from Americans’ needs and from the capability of handling a major catastrophe.”
“…overriding all of these issues will be the question of whether government can restore confidence. Can it get people to believe that it’s up to the task of insuring safety and security and meeting human needs?”
“That is what 2008 will be all about. Whether the final two candidates ever express these sentiments, during the campaign or not, once victory is in hand, the next president is going to have to redefine federalism….”
It’s not really news that Americans are fed up, is it? Will 2008 be—like 1932 and 1980—moments when rampant citizen disillusion demands radical changes in the underlying ethic of government?
It’s hard to say. It does seem that pressure is building, and I believe that together we can enact real change, “redefine federalism,” as Zogby writes. I, too, am looking for a watershed moment.
I’m looking outside the pool of presidential talent, however, to stoke the fires of my hope. I’m looking to the millions on the ground working for real change in (what Frances is still having to remind me to call) social benefit organizations.
Whoever wins the billion-dollar lottery next November, it will not be them who changes the fate of our country and our planet. It will be the work of tens of millions of hands and minds.
The work, the change, the hope will come from “We the people.”
Peace, Mark
