I often wonder if public officials give any consideration to the historical lens that will define their current level of enlightenment decades from now.
The concept occurred to me recently as I was watching a television documentary about the U.S. civil rights movement of the 1960s. The program featured black-and-white footage of Southern men with horn-rimmed glasses protesting the uprising of “the negroes.”
I wondered what became of those guys, and are they ashamed of what they believed back then, or are they still firmly entrenched in their hatred today? Many, I’m sure, carried their hatred straight to their graves.
Fast forward. Documentaries 40 years from now will examine many of the political issues we’re debating today. I wonder if today’s political servants are capable of applying futuristic historic lenses to their current positions, or are they so blinded by the fogs of special interests, money and political party alignments that they cannot comprehend how they will need to account for those positions to the next generation?
American history will show there was a right side and a wrong side to the debate over health care reforms.
History will show there was a right side and a wrong side to the debate over whether background checks should be performed to prevent guns from being sold to the mentally ill or convicted felons.
History will show there was a right side and a wrong side to the debate over efforts to ban military-style assault weapons and 30-clip magazines.
History will show there was a right side and a wrong side to the debate over gay marriage.
History will show there was a right side and a wrong side to the debate over the status of illegal immigrants in this country.
History will show there was a right side and a wrong side to the debate over changes to the formulas for Social Security and Medicare.
History will show there was a right side and a wrong side to the debate over raising the minimum wage.
History will show there was a right side and a wrong side to the debate over whether the law should guarantee that wages should not be determined by gender.
History will show there was a right side and a wrong side to the debates over fiscal austerity and federal budget sequestration.
History will show there was a right side and a wrong side to the debate over climate change.
History will show there was a right side and a wrong side to the debate over Wisconsin’s Act 10 that revoked collective bargaining rights for public employees.
History will show there was a right side and a wrong side to Wisconsin’s decision to reject $810 million in federal funding for high-speed rail.
History will even show there was a right side and a wrong side to the debate over efforts to reform the structure of Milwaukee County government.
I’m not telling anyone where they should stand on any of these issues. But special interests and political party affiliations be damned. In the end, the only questions that will matter are which side of history will you want to say you were on when you’re defending your stances to your grandchildren 30 years from now and did you have the courage to do the right thing?
Steve Jagler is executive editor of BizTimes.
