Tom Kawczynski - Off the Record

One thing that you learn very quickly in politics is that there is always an us and a them.  Depending upon where you are, your team members change, but that there is presented an irrevocable split is inevitable.  We love things where they hate things.  We're for the good where they are for corruption.  We are right; they are wrong.

Needless to say, if you're someone more concerned with results than insults this probably is not the most effective way to accomplish things.  As I have the opportunity to talk to more people, I find that this is one of the many reasons why people stopped listening to politics and simply walked away.

If you listen to candidate stump speeches, you'll see this very easily.  There are certain catch phrases and groups that you're allowed to villify.  They think this, so they are bad.  That doesn't work for me; I like to understand why people think what they think, and then I find it much easier to talk to them about what I think and why I think it.  Respect and dignity, two simple values lacking from our discourse.

As I get involved with local politics, nowhere do I find this division more poignant than in the contest between business and labor.  The irony of it is that they both like attacking each other for the same basic offense.  Business gets angry with labor when they want better pay and benefits because their profit margin gets cut.  Conversely, labor gets mad when business is making money and their cut isn't large enough.  So, they attack one another and ask government to play referee.

The truth is if they looked past the rhetoric, they would see an opportunity.  A business that treats its workers well will have loyalty, higher productivity, and more commitment.  These days, since many employees are shareholders in their company anyway, there has never been more incentive to have shared success.  The same applies in reverse.  Unions should know that if a business grows and expands that there will be more opportunities to bring in more workers and promote from within.  If instead of asking government to pick a favorite they could work together, they would see that the challenge isn't between them, but between the companies without.

This is a lesson Pittsburgh desperately needs to learn, and I believe it has begun to do so.  The fight of the future isn't between labor and business, but between our businesses and those in other places in this nation and the world.  We need to stop attacking one another, and see there is a way forward where everyone benefits.  Smarter government would help.  Cut regulation, taxation, and red tape for business, but with the understanding that the employees will benefit also.  There will be more money, more room for expansion, and more to go around.

Balance is the key, and a willingness to understand that us and them is something different today.  Us is all of us, because we cannot have economic renewal if no one can even afford to purchase the products we create.