Larry D. Lauer

Observing legislatures in action this Spring has bordered on being depressing. Whatever happened to mutual respect, appreciation for other points of view, simple human tolerance, and just plain good manners? Why can’t we see that this mean-spirited political environment we have created is tearing our society apart?

In the Texas legislature, the eleventh hour of the 2011 session is playing out with every tactical trick in the book being used. Extremists are determined to go to any length to get the most extreme views enacted into law.  Amendments, points of order, and angry rhetoric rings on into the night. And when bills go to Conference Committees to resolve conflicts, the meetings are in total secret, and its’ members are completely unavailable.  What kind of system is this? 

Endless state and federal bills have been passed to make certain that institutions like ours operate transparently with the public.  But, more and more, lawmakers do their own “sausage-making”  in secret, out of touch with the rest of us, and representing only the extreme among us.

In Washington, the situation is much the same.  Extreme positions on how to manage the budget deficit fight are argued without a sign of tolerance, or human decency. This is not communication, it’s warfare!  And when members meet among themselves, they do so out of sight to those of us roaming the halls looking for just a slight clue that reasonable bi-partisan deliberation is going on somewhere. Then, when they speak publicly, the talk is polarizing. And even though their office staffs often sound thoughtful, there is no way to tell what is actually going on in this daily world of contradictions.

Those few people left in public service who came there to be true statesmen, are now just lying low.  One member, who a year ago was accessible to me, and willing to support reasonable requests, now does not answer my emails. She never is available for a visit, and instead always asks a staff member to meet with me… who then just sits there nodding sympathetically in response to anything I say.

In all my years of working in communication and marketing, I have always been able to get some sense of how well I was doing.  Even with the many surprises inherent in this competitive business, I was always able to get information along the way that would confirm success or failure.  In the world of government relations these days, however, there is no way to tell how well you are doing. Just when you think you have achieved something, a last-minute maneuver, or mean-spirited communication tactic, wipes it all away.