Raising voices for change

BY JIM OLIVER

FEW MOVIE lines have become as established in American culture as “What we’ve got here is failure to communicate” from “Cool Hand Luke.” This line seems an appropriate metaphor for the seemingly unbreakable deadlock we have in Virginia governance.

What we have is a system of governance that resists change and fails to give citizens meaningful voice in decisions that affect their lives. This disconnection breeds discontent, destroys trust and undermines faith in government.

Citizens want to have input on major issues. But rarely are they asked about issues such as the role of government in their lives and how the benefits and costs of government should be apportioned.

Successive gubernatorial administrations and blue chip commissions over the past 50 years have sought to achieve positive change in Virginia’s system of governance. But this is difficult in a system where governors have but one term and most of the power resides in a well-entrenched General Assembly. It has not been a recipe for success.

In addition, some of the challenges facing Virginia are much deeper than simply getting through the current economic hardships.

Impasses on transportation, the rights of localities and other critical issues are fundamental in scale and complexity and do not lend themselves to the usual incremental adjustments or logrolling.

The inclusion of citizens is essential for the kind of transformational change that is necessary. Americans were once distinguished from citizens of other countries by their “associational life” (Alexis De Tocqueville); that is, their willingness to come together to tackle their issues and chart their common destiny. Today, American civic life is more characterized by mistrust, animosity and obstruction.

This situation clearly cannot continue if we intend to respect the trust bestowed upon us by the founding fathers. To have an effective government at any level, we must be able to have respect for one another, opportunities for meaningful input and, not the least of all, an imperative in each of us to be part of the process. Citizenship is not a responsibility we can reduce to only the voting booth or relegate to others to do for us.

History tells us that citizens become most powerful when they choose to focus on possibilities rather than problems. Possibilities attract involvement and excite those who become involved in exploring them.

Trust increases and bolder ideas emerge when people take time to know each other and work together to define and work to achieve what can be.

Now is the time for citizens across Virginia to become more involved in charting the future of our state. A growing number of nonprofit organizations are combining technology and meeting design to enable large groups of people to work together productively. A project of this kind in Virginia could give citizens the opportunity to chart and have ownership in their future.

An idea for Virginia might be to have a project called Virginia Listens. It could be modeled after Envision Utah (http: //envisionutah.org), a public-private partnership that involved more than 200 large-group citizen workshops, more than 20,000 citizens and 100 community partnerships. It was a $3 million, three-year statewide project funded by visionary foundations and individuals.

Virginia Listens could be conceived and sponsored by the governor, General Assembly and various private sector partners like the Virginia Business Council and League of Women Voters.

Perhaps a statewide center, like the Miller Center at the University of Virginia, could be enlisted to help organize a neutral effort and be supported by regional nonprofit groups and other higher education centers.

The project would be designed intentionally as high-tech, high-touch and transparent. Virginia Listens could be completed within three years to coincide with the end of the current governor’s term.

This is offered as an ambitious but practical model to proceed. There may be others. However, if we pass on this opportunity, what “we’ve got here is (another) failure to communicate.”

Jim Oliver has served as city manager of Norfolk, Portsmouth and Hampton. He is chairman of the Hampton Roads Center for Civic Engagement.