constituent
The way you think and feel about the world is shaped by what you see when you get out of bed in the morning. I remember hearing this from civil rights activists. It simply means that perspective is hugely determined by place, context, and vantage point. This is profoundly true for me and most of the people I've ever met. You see the world from the place you live.
Part of the problem in the current budget impasse in Washington, D.C. is the perspectives of the politicians in the debate. Every morning they see and hear each other; the gladiator ring of national politics; the Washington media; their donors; their ideological base; and their latest poll ratings.
A local Connecticut race for the state Senate seat has shown two candidates from opposing parties running a unique campaign of civility. The race between incumbent state Senator Andrew Maynard and Republican challenger Stuart Norman is what Sojourners has been urging in our Truth and Civility campaign.
The Institute for Civility in Government was founded in 1998 by two Presbyterian pastors, the Rev. Cassandra Dahnke and the Rev. Tomas Spath. They began by taking groups of adults to Washington, D.C., to listen and learn about how to speak with one another and their elected officials in civil, courteous ways. They branched out to college campuses, bringing elected officials to campuses to meet with students. These gatherings are not about positions or sides of a debate, but about discussing ideas in a respectful manner.
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.
--William Butler Yeats, from "The Second Coming"