A thought and a suggestion

Once again, we find ourselves writing back and forth over what some feel are important, and yet others see as somewhat less important.

The name/cat calling over the past few days accomplishes NOTHING! EastGreenbushTalks suggests that since readers and believers of the Taylor/Cristo blog have their opinion which is apparently 180 degrees from the opinions of readers here, save yourselves a few blood pressure pills, and simply stick to the Taylor/Cristo blog! Of course, feel free to chime in on EastGreenbushTalks, but realize that more often than not there will be an argument and tempers seem to flare easily over the craziest topics. Also realize your comments might not get published here.

EastGreenbushTalks was started to give people that didn't agree with the campaign platform of Cristo/Taylor, a place to feel like they were being heard. The uproar came when writers from the Cristo/Taylor blog realized that not everyone bought into their platform. Then the nastiness got worse. Taylor will never agree with anything posted here, and likewise, not many readers or supporters of this blog will ever agree with her opinions or perspectives. It's kinda like her latest attempt at not printing anything political for a month. Many of us knew it was bogus and wouldn't last, but importantly - she never abided by her own game rules! The Cristo/Taylor blog - she can do as she pleases. Likewise - when we publish something here that you Cristo/Taylor People don't like - quite frankly - TOO BAD - it's our blog and we publish what we want! No bad feelings, it's exactly the same rules the Cristo/Taylor blog practice. That all being said - if you're not pleased with what's written here - blog your brains out over there, we'd tell you to blog on East Greenbush Prays but comments aren't allowed there.

Citizens Fiscal Advisory Committee

The first meeting of the Citizens Fiscal Advisory Committee has been scheduled for 7:00PM on Tuesday, 1/18/11. 

The meeting will be held in the Community Room in Town Hall.

The members of the Citizens Fiscal Advisory Committee are:

Rob Feldman
Connor Laverty 
Heather Mowat 
Fred Nero 
Maura Ryan 
Pete Stenson
Jim Breig - Town Comptroller

Let's pause to remember in our thoughts and prayers the victims and families of yesterday's senseless and brutal attack in Tuscon, AZ that left Rep. Gabrielle Giffords in critical condition and took the lives of six individuals.

• John M. Roll, 63, a federal district court judge.
• Gabriel Zimmerman, 30, Giffords' director of community outreach.
• Dorwin Stoddard, 76, a pastor at Mountain Ave. Church of Christ.
• Christina-Taylor Green, 9, a student at Mesa Verde Elementary.
• Dorthy Morris, 76.
• Phyllis Schneck, 79.

According to the New York Times, "The shootings raised questions about potential political motives, and (Pima County) Sheriff Dupnik blamed the toxic political environment in Arizona. There were immediate national reverberations as Democrats denounced the fierce partisan atmosphere in Ms. Gifford’s district and top Republicans quickly condemned the violence. " - NY Times 1/9/11

Sheriff Dupnik's statement: "When you look at unbalanced people, how they respond to the vitriol that comes out of certain mouths about tearing down the government. The anger, the hatred, the bigotry that goes on in this country is getting to be outrageous," the sheriff said. "And unfortunately, Arizona I think has become the capital. We have become the mecca for prejudice and bigotry." - msnbc.com news services.

"A Turning Point in the Discourse, but in Which Direction? http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/09/us/politics/09bai.html?ref=politics

"Bloodshed Puts New Focus on Vitriol in Politics" in today's NY Times http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/09/us/politics/09capital.html?hp

Pete Stenson

Let's Start the New Year Right!!!

The following was submitted by Pete Stenson.

Jack Conway penned the following in reaction to an article forwarded to him by Nate Hans.  That article, entitled "The art of non-persuasion" by Tom Asacker, can be found at http://www.acleareye.com/sandbox_wisdom/2010/12/the-art-of-non-persuasion.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+acleareye+%28A+Clear+Eye%29. 

Asacker's article refers to an interview with screenwriter Robert McKee in which McKee maintains there are three ways for business people to persuade someone: Rhetoric, Story and Coercion and concludes that Story is the most effective.

* * * * *

Jack's eloquent observations (shared with his permission) are as follows:

Persuasion in politics is different from persuasion in the business world because the bottom line has as much to do with perception as reality. 

There is a book by Murray Edelman called 'Constructing the Political Spectacle' in which he breaks the political process down into three related components:

1. identifying social problems,

2. constructing leaders and

3. constructing enemies.

He uses this framework to show how politics works in an age of mass media and diverse new forms of communication.

This is only one way to look at politics but it is a useful way to think about the last year in East Greenbush. In Edelman's framework, problems are evoked to assign blame and praise and lay the groundwork for the construction of leaders and enemies.

Was junk bond status caused by mismanagement or the downturn in the economy and the rising cost of government, including energy costs, health and other benefit increases, rising contractual obligations, etc. If mismanagement, was it the responsibility of the supervisor or the town board or both?

Activists on both sides try to affect the perception of voters by identifying problems in such a way that blame and praise can be used to construct a vision of leaders and enemies that will resonate with residents. The most important part of Edelman's book for East Greenbush is his argument that contemporary politics requires leadership to be defined in opposition to perceived 'enemies'.

The public spectacle of politics now seems to require that those who disagree with you are seen as 'enemies' rather than opponents and I can think of no better example than our town and this last election. Emotions ran so high because both sides perceived that to lose would yield power to people of a virtually malevolent nature, not just those with different technical solutions to the problems of government.

This is why I argue for civility and a perception that we are all neighbors at the end of the day. The division of the political landscape into leaders and enemies has been a profoundly counter-productive development in American politics and has poisoned our political discourse. Persuading people who see you as the enemy is nearly impossible. I think the solution to our problems lies less in a formula for persuasion than in a reinterpretation of those with whom you have differences.

We have to learn to concede the same humanity to people who disagree with us as we do to ourselves.

* * * * *

Thank you for allowing us to share your observations, Jack. 

I’d like to add this quote from Gov. Andrew Cuomo's Inaugural Address:

President Lincoln said in this city on his way to his inauguration, “Citizens may swear allegiance to one party or the other and believe with all their might that they are right, but once an election is passed, and until the next election, they should be one people.”

Pete Stenson