• Home
  • Blog
  • Contact
The Screaming Moderate

There is hope for change

2/19/2018

1 Comment

 
The last 15 years or so, especially the last year, made me feel hopeless and helpless about our politics, the polarization of our country and our future. Two things the last week improved my outlook.

For horrific reasons, one is the attitude of the “kids” from Parkland, Florida who, even while enduring the shock and tragedy of their last week, have appeared on TV not to get their 15 minutes but to make a serious point – if you adults aren’t going to take action, get out of the way.

The second was a focus group convened for “60 Minutes” and moderated by Oprah Winfrey, a focus group of adults who demonstrated the polarization of our politics but also the desire to get along.

I’m sure all of you have seen those Parkland teenagers on camera the last few days. Whether YouTube, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter made them media-ready or, more likely, the seriousness urgency of their mission – to make theirs the last mass school shooting in our country – they were as impressive a group as I’ve seen in a long time.

To even have the presence of mind to start organizing protests, marches and web pages, in the aftermath of watching their friends murdered, is amazing. To articulate themselves as they have is unbelievable.  Which gives me hope.

“60 Minutes” did a focus group a few months ago where they brought seven Trump voters and seven non-Trump voters together to talk about their differences. That was a good show. But what happened after the show is what brought Oprah and CBS’ cameras back:

Those 14 people stayed in touch, debated things on a private Facebook page and got together for activities, church or other reasons. They got closer and began to understand each other a little better. Not the politics so much but to see that those people they dislike so much – be they Trump voters or non-Trump voters – are people just like they are, with a different outlook on our society and our politics but with the same hopes and dreams for our country and their families.

One Trump guy even said at one point “we disagree on 80 percent of things but that means we can find common ground on 20 percent.” Would that our Congress adopted the same outlook. A non-Trump voter said the aim isn't to "denounce" Trump, the aim is to get adult leadership and not the Tweet-first-and-learn-the-facts-later approach we all live with now.

Whether those Parkland kids get what they want – common sense gun control and safe schools – now isn’t really the measure because they still have to convince the “adults” in Congress to take action. The measure is when they get to be voting age and their generation is in charge, things just may change. And I haven’t felt that way lately.

But now, I have hope.

1 Comment
Barbara Peck
2/21/2018 07:26:58 am

B.Jay, thank you for sharing some hope in such dark times....let's all hope that thoughtful behavior, by adults as well as teens, will rise to the surface of reporting....

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    RSS Feed

     
    Follow @bjaycooper

    Archives

    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013

    B. Jay Cooper

    B. Jay is a former deputy White House press secretary to Presidents Reagan and George H.W. Bush. He also headed the communications offices at the Republican National Committee, U.S. Department of Commerce, and Yale University. He is a former reporter and is the retired deputy managing director of APCO Worldwide's Washington, D.C., office.
    He is the father of three daughters and grandfather of five boys and one girl. He lives in Marion, Mass.

powered by bjaycooper.com