Join us in putting people and country before party

by Rep. Charlie Conrad

I always have my eyes open for a good learning opportunity. And fortunately for me, the universe has generously provided many throughout my life.  Most recently, my loss in the reelection primary for state representative provided a difficult lesson. Because I was the only (former) Republican supporting reproductive rights and death with dignity, the loss was not unexpected, but it was nonetheless emotionally difficult. 

Ruminating on which path to follow next, I explored the core of who I am and rediscovered my fighting spirit with a little help from Teddy Roosevelt. He commented in a speech in Paris in April 1923:

It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.

The accumulation of lessons learned has itself been a lesson – we are not the first to experience our personal desires, challenges, ideas, and dreams. Voltaire said it succinctly, History never repeats itself.  Man always does. I believe this to be true.  All the sociopolitical turmoil, animosity, uncertainty, and personal passions that we are experiencing for the first time are not new to history. Maybe there’s a reason that these quotes from Cicero resonate:

A nation can survive its fools, and even the ambitious. But it cannot survive treason from within. An enemy at the gates is less formidable, for he is known and carries his banner openly. But the traitor moves amongst those within the gate freely, his sly whispers rustling through all the alleys, heard in the very halls of government itself….

Do not blame Caesar, blame the people of Rome who have so enthusiastically acclaimed and adored him and rejoiced in their loss of freedom and danced in his path and gave him triumphal processions. Blame the people who hail him when he speaks in the Forum of the ‘new, wonderful good society’ which shall now be Rome, interpreted to mean ‘more money, more ease, more security, more living fatly at the expense of the industrious.

Reflecting on my loss in the light of these sage commentaries had led to me reach out to people in my network to figure out how we can best work to counter extremism, to protect our democracy from treason within, and to inspire those who have so enthusiastically acclaimed and adored him and rejoiced in their loss of freedom to refresh their understanding of and commitment to democracy, government of, for, and by the people.

Fortunately, I connected with Rep. Chenele Dixon in Idaho who learned similar lessons and shares the same goals.  We decided to form Common Ground – United We Stand, a nonpartisan policy-agnostic coalition of current and former state legislators to counter extremism and adopt practices that encourage and enable legislators to represent and advocate for their constituents, not the party. In short, people and country come before party.

Although originally parties represented people whose values regarding how best to achieve democratic ideals were aligned. But that has changed. As I see it now, party leadership has become increasingly sophisticated and adept at using psychology and marketing with the help of social media, biased media outlets and people, and other avenues to manipulate voters through misinformation and disinformation. 

This is the essence of identity politics – people identifying as the party and fully drinking its particular Kool-Aid.  Self-interested parties are now the surrogates for voters and are leading the column, while the party members march behind, dutifully obeying orders. 

The techniques of “political technology,” as developed by the Russians, are intended to manipulate voters through oversaturation of “information,” which makes it difficult for us to determine what is true, partially true, or a lie.  Most of us don’t have the time, cognitive bandwidth, or knowledge to sort through everything we hear. This oversaturation has led to an exhausted majority – a significant percentage of folks who have tuned out because they are overwhelmed. 

This result is intentional. Many of the people remaining engaged are energetic party members who take the cognitively easy path of parroting the party lines and believing the rhetoric they are fed. Oftentimes they engage in mental gymnastics to distort or explain facts that are inconsistent with their “reality.”

That is the challenge Common Ground has taken on – to partner with other people and organizations to strategically counter these tactics and protect our democracy. Trump, MAGA, white nationalists, and hate groups that occupy the spotlight daily are not the cause of civic distress – they are the result of decades of self-interested people, organizations, and parties taking the political reins from people. 

As Thomas Hobbes wrote in Leviathan (1651), government exists to manage interactions between people, because without it we would incessantly be at war with each other.  I believe parties should work for all the people in the furtherance of democracy, instead of being a vehicle for a few to achieve their self-interested goals.

Historically parties have often been beneficial, and they can certainly be beneficial again. Imagine two functioning parties that actually support politicians who discuss, consider, and negotiate policies that improve the lives of the people they represent – how refreshing! Imagine a country with no angertainment, political theater, or elected officials checking their “likes” in the middle of a hearing after a performative and unproductive moment of grandstanding.

Sounds nice, doesn’t it? That’s what I want. I will sweat, bleed, get knocked down, and stand up again repeatedly to achieve it. On my deathbed I want to know I tried, that I helped provide those that come after us a lesson worth repeating – successfully countering extremism and saving a democracy. Common Ground – United We Stand, not just words, but an end worth fighting for – by daring greatly in the arena together. 

Rep. Charlie Conrad represents District 12, East Lane County until Jan. 13, 2025, the second Monday in January following the election, as specified in Article IV Section 4 of the Oregon Constitution.