“I anticipated we were going to have a grueling debate..., but it’s been far worse than I even thought it could have been. I think it truly has poisoned the ability...to deal with other major issues on the table.”
Could be a quote from General Conference, couldn't it? Instead it was from Kansas House Minority Leader Paul Davis from Lawrence. He was talking about the debate in the Kansas Legislature over redistricting, the process where new voting boundaries are drawn. After a 99 day session (that was only supposed to be 90 days long) the Senate and House never agreed to a plan and now the courts will decide the boundaries. This was such a mess it made the budget process (which included sending two budget bills to the Governor's desk including one widely expected to result in a deficit in the billions by 2018) reasonable.
Such is the state of Kansas politics, where "conservative" Republicans and "moderate" Republicans fight for dominance and Democrats are mostly irrelevant. If you're not from Kansas you may not know that this traditional Republican stronghold has not historically been run by what we think of as today's Republican party. Kansans get along. Kansans believe in reasonably conservative fiscal constraint and somewhat libertarian social norms. Kansas has been on the right side of history in a large number of movements. It's a great place that now is being torn apart by extremes that have now "poisoned the ability" to deal with the real issues of governance.
Sound familiar? The "think and let think" state is no longer acting like itself. Just like the "think and let think" denomination that I'm pretty sure is the largest protestant group in the state. As I said in my last post, the United Methodist Church has indeed given in to the culture. We have become just as combative, polarized, and intolerant of different beliefs as the Kansas State Legislature.
I think this polarization will be our demize. And I don't know what the answer is. Both sides are so fearful of "losing"; of their opinions not being heard and valued. No one is taking the time to listen to the opinions of others. No one seems willing to try to find the common ground and build from that point. Collaboration and concensus building are dead.
ReplyDeleteThe only answer we have is our traditional one -- the ballot box, or machine, or whatever. Short of seceding from both the UMC and the "Great" State of Kansas, it's the only answer I can find. (Unfortunately, I don't have the same access to the governance of the UMC at the policy making level. And, I hear we're even going to lose our annual All-Church Conference st St. Paul's. I understand we're switching to a Charge Conference. That seems like something I'd really like to have a vote on too.) -- Linda Stoner
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