Nothing to Fear

So much of what I have written culminates into one general theme. That theme is that Duluth needs a fundamental change of direction, change of leadership and change in general thought and attitudes. The comments by the Publisher of the Duluth News Tribune, typify the attitudes of the stodgy, dusty and out of touch, liberal, DFL establishment in Duluth. This sort of 50s era thinking seems so entrenched, to dislodge it is going to take a powerful voice.

When change is the only direction to progress, the new voice of that progress must not only be powerful, afterall, anyone can stand at a podium and bang their fists, shouting slogans of power to the people, it must be unifying and galvanizing. I cannot remember a voice in my lifetime that I felt compelled to follow on a local level. I cannot remember a voice that truly galvanized people to action and compelled change in Duluth. It has been the same, whether the voice comes from the right or the left. The voices have always stuck to one message or another, pro-business, or pro-labor; pro-development or pro-environment; pro-growth or pro-green. I submit to you that these voices have done damage to their respective sides and viewing the situation Duluth now finds itself in, they have done a disservice to Duluth as a whole, with little exception.

This new voice must be able to articulate that it is possible to be both pro-business and pro-labor and that the two go hand in hand. Labor depends on job creation. The new voice must be able to articulate that it is possible to be pro-development and pro-environment and that, in today's day and age, the two now go hand in hand. Developers are now held to the highest, strictest standards of environmental protection and aesthetic sensitivity. We must realize that leaving land undeveloped or in the public domain, leaves it essentially without stewardship. Todays developers have become excellent stewards and out of necessity, demanded by the marketplace and the political arena, are keenly aware of the sensitivities of their detractors. Good stewardship, depends on those good stewards to take ownership.

Duluthians must be made to understand that by embracing growth, we aren't, at the same time, capitulating to urban sprawl. We must also understand that to embrace growth, maintain a higher standard of living for all and the quality of life we now experience, we can and will do all of it with careful stewardship of and respect for those ideals from all sides of the political spectrum.

For decades, we have been lead to believe that growth and development are mutually exclusive from high quality of life. We have been brainwashed on both sides that to protect green and open spaces, we have to sacrifice economic and population growth. We have been misled to believe that both sides of the arguments require unequivocal compromise and one will cease to exist if the other is allowed to succeed. We have, in a nutshell, lost balance. That loss of balance has come from the paranoia of those on the extremes of both sides, that the other is out to monopolize the public domain, grab up all the land and exclude the other from the process. This paranoia has come from our elected leaders and those campaigning for office who feel using fear is the only way to obtain and retain elected office.

The new leadership of Duluth, if it is ever to move Duluth in a unified manner, and if this new brand of leadership ever arrives on the scene, must be a master of public communication and a non-threatening presence to all. They will have to move us toward solving the issues that affect all and toward creating opportunities across all spectrums for all Duluthians and those not native to the area, who would like to locate here, such as our hundreds of college graduates every year. They will have to put out a message that Duluth is too good to suffer mediocrity and stagnation. Duluth is too valuable and beautiful to think small in regards to the future. We have to think smarter and bigger and we need a leader who will bring this message to all Duluthians, across all political and dogmatic lines. "Enlightened" leaders are not enough. We need enlightened, bold, articulate and unashamed leadership.

The new leadership must be a problem solving, not finger pointing presence. The demons of the past must be exorcised and forgotten. The enemies of the future must be dealt with and convinced, theirs is a message of days gone by. The Party loyalists who capitalize on fear must be marginalized and their message drowned out by one galvanizing the community into hope and progress. A "polarized" community must alienate and ostracize those who capitalize on and propagate the myth of polarization.

The new voice of Duluth has to be able to convince those across all lines that, in the words of FDR, "We have nothing to fear but fear itself". Fear is the most powerful tool in the politicians' arsenal and it has been used far too long, to the detriment of society. It has created a chasm in Duluth, larger than the City itself and that chasm must be filled with a message of unity, cooperation, hope and most of all, galvanized determination to turn the City into what it once was; a place where anyone with an able body, sound mind and the willingness to work hard, could and would succeed.