Citizens League

How to get Minnesota's citizens more involved

By Eric Schubert
Published May 26, 2003, Star Tribune

On Memorial Day we honor citizens who sacrificed their lives and dreams for our future. Many of our fallen citizen soldiers left Minnesota with visions of returning to this place they called home. We are stewards of that place. Unfortunately, too many of us aren't showing up for work.

It's not because we don't care about Minnesota. National surveys, such as the United Way's, tout our compassion. Many of us leave Minnesota for a time and then return for good after finding other places don't quite compare. We contribute more to charities, and we make it clear that Mississippi we're not. So then why aren't more of us working for the common good?

On our statewide playground, we increasingly draw deep, inflexible lines in the sand, pitting ourselves against each other rather than with each other. Twin Cities on one side, rural Minnesota on the other. Inner city here, suburbs there. No new taxes vs. new taxes, and so on. These lines and our unwillingness to cross them generate gridlock, not progress.

Civic engagement tools are fewer. Corporate contributions of leadership and money to nonpartisan organizations and projects wane. Town hall meetings once aired by local commercial television stations are archived relics. Fewer people volunteer for citizen commissions or public service. In many schools the Pledge of Allegiance is shelved with civics lessons and nurturing a sense of duty in helping Minnesota work better.

Add busy lives, 24-hour news channels that magnify contention, political litmus tests and it's no surprise that the Citizens League recently declared in its report "Doing the Common Good Better" that "old ways of engaging citizens are not working." So how do we motivate more people to become active stewards of this state?

Following are one citizen's thoughts:

Educate to Participate. A valuable public-private partnership would be an experiential citizenship course developed jointly by Minnesota's public and private colleges.

It would meet young people who are one step from the real world and brimming with energy and optimism. Such a course would outline what government does, how it works, and how citizens can get involved.

Each year students would examine a Minnesota public policy issue in-depth and shape ideas to address it -- ideas that could contribute to public policy. Students could learn via video or in person from noted community builders -- such as former Gov. Elmer Andersen, former Mille Lacs Tribal Chair Marge Anderson, former General Mills Foundation head Reatha Clark King, former Vice President Walter Mondale, former business executive Wheelock Whitney -- about their perspectives and real-life experiences in working for the common good. The self-graded final exam would be students' lifetime civic
contributions.

Pump up the Vote. In Minnesota, we pride ourselves on our voter participation. Yet our turnout is consistently lower than in previous decades.

Minnesota has some of the world's best creative talent in fields such as public relations, advertising and video production. Each election season that talent could join to help make voting a must-do event by creating a provocative statewide get-out-the-vote campaign.

The multimedia/grass-roots effort would involve and educate Minnesotans on the impact of voting and exercising our civic muscles year-round. The goals during each statewide election would be to set the pace nationally for voter turnout, increase pride in public participation, and build a platform for citizen engagement far beyond election season.

Civic Engagement Commission. Minnesota has sports commissions, human rights commissions and other citizen-led, government connected entities that enhance our quality of life. A nonpartisan civic engagement commission could be a catalyst for public participation and making getting involved easy and fun.

For example, it could operate a centralized Web site that becomes a statewide link to information about organizations and programs throughout Minnesota that are promoting civic engagement. That Web site could feature how-to-get-involved guides, case studies of successful public engagement initiatives, and interactive teaching tools patterned after existing tools such as Minnesota Public Radio's online state budget balancer.

The commission could build on ideas raised by the Citizens League public engagement report by issuing annual awards for civic participation and holding annual leadership summits. It also could spur collaboration and bridge geographic divides by holding regional study groups to analyze and develop approaches for state policy issues. A voluntary checkoff on our state tax return could contribute commission funding.

Thirty years ago Time magazine's cover proclaimed "The Good Life in Minnesota." Today Minnesota is still quite charmed, but there's no doubt that the North Star has lost some glitter. It's our duty to restore that shine and carry on, especially for those ahead of us and for those who died to give us the opportunity.

Eric Schubert, Inver Grove Heights, is a public relations professional.