Light (Solar-Powered) At The End Of The Republican Tunnel

You may not often hear the words "innovation" and "Republican" in the same sentence.  For that matter, if you hear the words "alternative energy" and/or "climate change" in the same sentence as the word "Republican," it's fairly safe to assume that the sentence describes the opposition of the latter to some form of the former.  That's the stand of the GOP on the national level, at any rate.

But one of the rewards of looking at politics at the municipal/county level is that, at that level, problems cannot be punted off to someone else.  Problems have to be solved, or the people in change of solving problems--mayors, county executives, and city and county council members--will not be around for very long, and deservedly so.  This tends to make the people who do the best jobs of solving these problems less ideological and more pragmatic in their thinking.  They don't care about the political birthplace of a solution to a problem.  They care passionately instead about whether it works--and whether it's affordable.

With that in mind, the news in this article from the HuffPost did not completely surprise me.  It may be surprising to some of you, however, so I suggest to take a moment to read it, and then think carefully about what it says, and the implications of what it says.

First, not all Republicans fit the stereotypical mold, just as not all Democrats do on their side of the fence.  When their work is local in nature enough to bring them into direct contact with the lives of the people around them, they can't afford to be.  Not all of the people around them think like they do, and those are the people who have to be convinced that a proposed solution is worth buying into.  In other words, in local government, the need to understand the thinking of those who disagree with you, and to get along with them enough to get them to see your point of view, is absolutely essential.

There's a lesson in there for Democrats at all levels.  If you truly believe that your policies are the best ones for the nation as a whole, learn what motivates people around the nation, and then figure out how what you have to offer can be related to that.  Don't buy into the right-wing view that we're two inseparable nations.  Yes, we have real differences.  But we also have commonalities that can be used to build bridges over those differences, without pretending that the differences aren't there.

Second, and following directly from this, there are practical arguments for progressive causes that can and should have built-in appeal for Republicans, as this article demonstrates.  Conservatives are big believers in increasing the value of property and in saving taxpayers money.  Going green can and does both.  I believe that this is the biggest obstacle to progressive causes:  the refusal of progressives to do and share the homework that supports the idea that progressive politics need not be expensive and, done the right way, can and should be cost-effective.

It's time for progressives to take a glimpse into the minds of "the other."  After all, they are part of the country you want to reform.  There's no harm in showing how it will benefit them.  It's good for business, for forward thinking, for patriotism and America.  Go for it!