The prevalence of political dissonance has been glaringly apparent in the past few months in America. The vitriol and polarization of our political parties have permeated our negotiations and political social media. The recent struggle of our government being shut down has had consequences to the SNAP Program, our federal employees, our air traffic controllers and many other institutions that are vital to our functioning. More so, it has created anxiety, fear and financial compromise to thousands of Americans.
It feels very much like our political systems are broken. This has impact to all of us, particularly to those who are living from paycheck to paycheck. They have had to take extreme measures to survive, feed their families and live their normal life. It is expected that different political persuasions will have disagreements, but those differences should not cause our citizens to barely survive and depend on others to have basic life necessities. We should all agree on that for our fellow Americans.
It is clear that there is little trust among our government officials and significant disillusionment from most Americans about our government. Recent research by the PEW Charitable Trusts showed that only 1 in 5 Americans trust their government. This research emphasizes the need for transparency and accountability for our government officials, yet very few Americans believe that there is a level of either to the point of warranting trust.
What we know about trust is that it takes years to build and a few seconds to lose. It is quite fragile even in stable relationships. Most of us could easily become fatalistic about the capacity of our politicians to build trust with us. What would it take for that to happen?
In Dr. Sandra Bloom’s Creating PRESENCE organizational trauma-informed certification program, we talk about consensus as a significant outcome in any meeting. It means that once discussion is ended and there is a decision, we decide that we are going to support that decision whether we totally agree or not. It is a commitment to a value of respect for our process knowing that all the alternatives have been verbally processed and that the outcome is representative of the best of our perspectives. This consensus process is in and of itself a value that seeds trust.
Then there is what I would call relational integrity, which means a level of consistency in demonstrating agreed upon and healthy values and behavior over time. This kind of consistency becomes predictable and creates a pattern of behavior that we can trust. This is how relational integrity can lead to trustworthiness. Just like any relationship that has been broken, trust can be earned over time through a commitment to hold our values intact. This is the beginning of rebuilding trust in any relationship.
Rather than fighting over outcomes, perhaps we should be working on ideals like consensus, relational integrity and trust-building in order to bring to our country some sense of civil renewal in how we treat each other even in our political dialogue. I’m sure most of us feel this may not be plausible, but it is a beginning that could lead towards a stable, trustworthy leadership of America, our citizens and our global community.
Gerry Vassar
President/CEO
