The hope and folly of the Gang of Sixty - Conventional Wisdom on Power-Center Politics
Recent initiatives by Senators Lindsay Graham and Dick Durban to lead the “Gang of Six” bi-partisan efforts to craft comprehensive legislation for immigration and other areas of interest, and now to grow this into a true coalition of 25-plus senators, and possibly a full blown “Gang of Sixty” caucus during this pause in the government shutdown showdown would seem doomed to failure by all forms of “conventional wisdom.”
But here is a postulate: The interplay of the many shades of CW as it has evolved in our current Public Sphere Conversation is a fundamental ingredient in the nasty and truly dangerous polarization that dominates the realm of public policy and political action.
Tune into the many outlets giving voice to viewpoints on happenings in the news-stream, and hear the deeply held, and wildly opposing convictions of what just “obviously makes sense,” who is “obviously crazy” and who is “clearly to be trusted” - the only agreement from these extremes are that much the same language is used - each “side” using similar words of CW about totally opposite believes and logic systems.
So where do we go from here? Can a real caucus of the middle emerge? Is there any hope that a powerful center-based alignment for comprehensive and broad ranged accomplishment succeed?
The real questions are how can this very current example of just such an initiative in the U.S. Senate be applied to similarly stalled and stalemated efforts throughout the nation? How can lessons of history, of evidence-based models of past such emergences be used to further this opportunity? How can language of true action evolve from what is, in reality, the current language of seeming action from one side or another, but is actually, one of inaction, in terms of meaningful, comprehensive results over a wide range of important interests.?
This flowering of a political center, however fleeting, in which just a very few venture away from the extremes at first, then a few more, and so on - each doing so based on an inherent understanding, an inner voice, and instinct that continuing along the existing course is, itself, the one of certain doom.
The positive challenge here is to that next level of leaders of our sphere of happenings, those sharing both the suspicions and skills to venture towards the center - those already with the knowledge and temperament to trust models for comprehensive and broad-based success - and with the skills to help a coalition to evolve to bring them about.
Such leaders already understand the fleeting nature of the opportunity to avoid certain peril, of the historic need to seize on any such intrinsic alignment of fragility and strength - such are the fundamental elements of all such emergences - and offer and commit their own true purpose as fellow element.
Such are snowflakes and other embodiments of those so venturing.
