#10: Grow a network of private clubs for community betterment
Who are the community-builders in Dubuque? Do they know their counterparts in Des Moines, or Burlington, or Fort Dodge, or Council Bluffs?
For a small state, we are sometimes surprisingly disconnected from one another. Yet despite our provincial approach to what goes on inside our own borders, the people living here are assuredly a hundred times more engaged with the global community than we were before the advent of the Internet. How can it be that we still know so little -- and profess to care even less -- about what's happening thoughout the land between the two rivers?
We simply need to start getting our heads together once in a while with our own neighbors at least a fraction as often as we explore Internet chat rooms.
It's a matter of sharing ideas outside the formal networks and rules of government. No government investment is necessary. Iowans need to refresh their identities -- both on a local basis and as a state.
Waiting for one's own party to win every two, four, or six years (depending on the office) is a hugely inefficient way to get the state that we want -- especially when, even if "our team" does win, we're still just hoping that our priorities will be theirs as well. Every party has its times in and out of power, but there are lots of ideas that need action, not votes.
We can't bridge the gap between what we have and what we want just by showing up to vote in November. Even city councils are usually too formal to get things done. Money isn't always the missing input; more often, it's will or imagination. By stimulating those with private clubs, we can activate what we really want.
This ties into helping the state grow more outside the major metro areas: We don't need more paid consultants telling the state how to improve, we just need more local boosters cheerleading their own communities because that's where their bread is buttered. When your future is invested, you're going to be much more persuasive and enthusiastic.
This isn't a matter of getting more dues-paying members to show up for the Chamber of Commerce Ball. It's getting the Bull Moose Club or the 20/30 Society in Des Moines to start talking to their counterparts in Cedar Rapids or the Quad Cities or Marshalltown or Burlington. It's about attracting new members through action and branching out to revive the grand old tradition of fraternal and civic societies, which are in disrepair at best.
Iowans need a quick and snappy response to the question, "Why do you like it there?" A good start: "I enjoy having a five-minute commute to work, living in a neighborhood of $150,000 suburban starter homes, with schools putting out the top ACT scores in the nation."
Those aren't the kinds of snappy retorts that we'll get from an IDED brochure at the State Fair. Those come from civic engagement and community pride. You can't just subsidize or legislate those into effect.
For a small state, we are sometimes surprisingly disconnected from one another. Yet despite our provincial approach to what goes on inside our own borders, the people living here are assuredly a hundred times more engaged with the global community than we were before the advent of the Internet. How can it be that we still know so little -- and profess to care even less -- about what's happening thoughout the land between the two rivers?
We simply need to start getting our heads together once in a while with our own neighbors at least a fraction as often as we explore Internet chat rooms.
It's a matter of sharing ideas outside the formal networks and rules of government. No government investment is necessary. Iowans need to refresh their identities -- both on a local basis and as a state.
Waiting for one's own party to win every two, four, or six years (depending on the office) is a hugely inefficient way to get the state that we want -- especially when, even if "our team" does win, we're still just hoping that our priorities will be theirs as well. Every party has its times in and out of power, but there are lots of ideas that need action, not votes.
We can't bridge the gap between what we have and what we want just by showing up to vote in November. Even city councils are usually too formal to get things done. Money isn't always the missing input; more often, it's will or imagination. By stimulating those with private clubs, we can activate what we really want.
This ties into helping the state grow more outside the major metro areas: We don't need more paid consultants telling the state how to improve, we just need more local boosters cheerleading their own communities because that's where their bread is buttered. When your future is invested, you're going to be much more persuasive and enthusiastic.
This isn't a matter of getting more dues-paying members to show up for the Chamber of Commerce Ball. It's getting the Bull Moose Club or the 20/30 Society in Des Moines to start talking to their counterparts in Cedar Rapids or the Quad Cities or Marshalltown or Burlington. It's about attracting new members through action and branching out to revive the grand old tradition of fraternal and civic societies, which are in disrepair at best.
Iowans need a quick and snappy response to the question, "Why do you like it there?" A good start: "I enjoy having a five-minute commute to work, living in a neighborhood of $150,000 suburban starter homes, with schools putting out the top ACT scores in the nation."
Those aren't the kinds of snappy retorts that we'll get from an IDED brochure at the State Fair. Those come from civic engagement and community pride. You can't just subsidize or legislate those into effect.
- What government should do:
- What individuals should do:
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