Are You Of The Body?
I noticed via Twitter that King at SCSU Scholars picked up on the "civic engagement community" reference in my prior post of Dane Smith's latest op-ed in the Minneapolis Star Tribune.
I had started a separate paragraph on it myself, but I later deleted it, unable to keep from writing several more, as I am now about to do. It's a classic ploy, playing on our insecurities to squelch challenge and debate. Let me fully re-quote Mr. Smith, emphasis mine, incorrect hyphenation left as is:
In mostly smaller groups throughout Minnesota's still vibrant civic engagement community, innovative ideas are being generated about ways to save money, to make health-care and education systems work better, to reinvest in human capital and infrastructure.
It's a familiar script.
- Postulate the existence of a group in the vaguest of terms.
- Ascribe warm, glowing, and cerebral attributes to it and its broad, glibly stated goals.
- Leave unstated the clear implication that you are somehow flawed if you do not support the group, its goals, and of course, its proposed strategies for achieving those goals.
It is designed to silence debate, not embrace it. It's an appealing strategy for the liberal factions here in Minnesota, increasing unable to separate themselves from the increasing obvious gap between their promises and the subsequent results.
Our public school districts are fond of this strategy. Everyone who doesn't vote for a referendum, well, there's something wrong with them. Don't they know that they're "stakeholders" in the community?" Don't want their kids or their neighbor's kids to get educated. It's never viewed as a vote of no confidence or as a response to past poor performance or poor choices in spending public money. At most, they'll concede that "they didn't get their message out," that if those voters only knew what they knew, they'd have voted yes.
Then there's the "willing to pay for a better Minnesota" crowd. When we look behind the curtain, we find that this "community" is even more enthusiastic about having someone else pay even more for that better Minnesota. Part of "community" seems to involve getting something for nothing.
I have and will continue to volunteer in various civic causes. I believe that many of my readers do as well. Just don't sell your soul to "the community" in the process.
Cross-posted and comments welcome at Speed Gibson.
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