Jay Evensen
  • Front Page
  • Opinions
  • Second Thoughts
  • Portfolio
  • Awards
  • About

What is it I don' t 'get' about public hearings?

4/4/2017

0 Comments

 
Picture
After enduring three hours of verbal abuse, calls for his ouster and interruptions when he tried to explain, Draper mayor Troy Walker said “I get it now” as he pulled back his offer to house a homeless shelter within city limits.

But what, exactly, did he get?
​
That, while sports fans in Philadelphia may be infamous for once booing Santa Claus, people in Draper will boo a homeless person off the stage?
What are any of us to “get” from a spate of public hearings nationwide that, if nothing else, call into question whether kindergarten teachers still teach human beings, in their formative years, to raise their hands and not speak out of turn?

One woman drew applause by derisively asking who the mayor was, as if civic ignorance were a virtue.

Unfortunately, the question probably has some relevance. Mayor Walker was elected in 2013 by a 157-vote margin. Only 21.07 percent of registered voters bothered to show up.

The better question may have been who were those 700 people who showed up at the hearing in the auditorium of Draper Park Middle School, and how representative were they of the city at-large? How many of them were among that 21.07 percent? 

That seems to be the $64,000 question of the age, to borrow the name of a popular 1950s quiz show. But just as that show became embroiled in scandal when its sponsor tried to manipulate the results, attendees at town hall meetings may be giving a misimpression of true public opinion.

Not long after the Draper shelter hearing, Utah Rep. Chris Stewart held a town hall meeting that, like so many in recent months, resulted in interruptions, boos and angry finger pointing.

Whoever these people are, it would be a mistake to characterize them as paid rabble-rousers or some other form of humans different than the rest. We have met the enemy, as Pogo once said, and he is us.

Last year, Zogby, in conjunction with Allegheny College, released its latest survey on civility in America. In 2010, it found 89 percent saying it was wrong to comment on someone’s race or ethnicity as a part of political dialog. By 2016, that had dropped to 69 percent.

Other indicators were equally disturbing. The percentage of people who said politicians should try to befriend members of the opposite party fell from 85 percent to 56 percent.

Is it unacceptable to interrupt people in a public forum? In 2010, 77 percent thought so; last year only 51 percent did. A solid 65 percent said it was wrong to shout over someone with whom you disagree, but that was down from 86 percent in 2010.

How about questioning someone’s patriotism because they hold different beliefs? In 2010, 73 percent said this was wrong, compared to only 52 percent in 2016.

The trend is unmistakable. This is what we, as a nation, are becoming. What is less clear are the long-term consequences, or the cure.

Former Pennsylvania governor and Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge has many times hearkened back to the old pickup basketball games former House Speaker Tip O’Neill encouraged among representatives each day at 4 p.m.

“A New England Democrat, Tip and I rarely agreed on policy,” Ridge wrote in Time magazine. “But Tip encouraged camaraderie between the R’s and D’s on the Hill because he knew if there was hatred between us, he simply would not be able to get anything of substance done.”

Maybe that’s the answer — large-scale pickup games before public hearings and debates.

I suspect solutions are harder than that. Like the old joke about how many psychiatrists it takes to screw in a light bulb, the key is that the bulb has to want to change. The people I’ve seen at recent hearings looked like they wanted to change everything but themselves.

In a recent op-ed for Florida Today, one woman expressed pride in this wave of incivility, which arguably started when tea party supporters began overrunning town hall meetings eight years ago.

“Our Founding Fathers would be proud that we finally ‘got it,’“ she wrote.
There’s that phrase again. Whatever it is people seem to be getting, let’s hope it stops spreading.
0 Comments

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    RSS Feed

    Search this site


    Like what you read here?

      Please subscribe below, and we'll let you know when there is a new opinion.

    Enter your email address:

    Delivered by FeedBurner

    Picture

    The author

    Jay Evensen is the Senior Editorial Columnist of the Deseret News. He has nearly 40 years experience as a reporter, editor and editorial writer in Oklahoma, New York City, Las Vegas and Salt Lake City. He also has been an adjunct journalism professor at Brigham Young and Weber State universities.

    Archives

    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012

    Categories

    All
    Campaign 2012
    Congress
    Crime
    Culture
    Iran
    Oil And Gas
    Poverty
    Steroids
    Taxes
    Utah
    Washington
    World Events
    World Events

    Links

    Deseret News
    Newslink
    Marianne Evensen's blog

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.