News From IOPL : Stop Dancing, Come Together and Make the Tough Decisions

Elected officials face an endless number of sensitive issues, from health care reform to how to deal with illegal immigrants; from budget shortfalls to whether students should make up school on a national holiday that honors a great hero; from same-sex marriage to federal entitlement programs. The economy requires that our elected officials make bold and hard decisions. Unfortunately, many of our national, state and local elected officials have danced around these vitally important issues for years.

William Now is the time to stop dancing and take action in the best interests of all people. That requires crossing political party lines and working together. I know that is possible; we did it during the fall 2010 class of the Fellows Program of The Institute of Political Leadership.

The unique fellowship is a multi-partisan research and educational leadership program to help educate and prepare individuals in North Carolina who desire to make a difference in local or state government. The purpose of the institute is to develop the participants' political skills to help them become better political leaders.

During our roughly five months of interacting with close to 50 educators and facilitators, we traveled the state on 10 weekends learning how to run for office and serve the right way. We all came from varied backgrounds and cultures, and our political beliefs were all different as well. What was so interesting was that despite our differences, we respected each other for who we were; we often agreed to disagree but we worked together throughout the program.

For example, Tom Covington, who spent much of his life working on state of North Carolina budgeting, facilitated an in depth "Budget Buster" exercise. Each fellow was assigned a House or Senate seat, lobbyist or executive office job. It was our task to balance the state budget. We were thrown a number of "curve balls" along the way to simulate the unexpected occurrences and emergencies that real life throws at government leaders. Although it was just an exercise, we came together as a group from all our various backgrounds and balanced the budget.

So it is clear to me that our political leaders must come together to become more fiscally responsible. We must work within the financial means of the country. We must eliminate the duplication of government spending and subsidies. Every line and every item of federal, state and local budgets must be evaluated for its real merit. Everything must be analyzed and scrutinized as to the cost and benefit.

If we elect leaders committed to serving all people instead of special interest groups or their own interests, we will begin to make serious and promising progress toward a better country. Just like we did in the 2010 fall class of IOPL, when a group of committed individuals from varied backgrounds, values and cultures came together, worked together, respected each other with no party signs, emblems or colors and explored solutions in everyone's best interests.

North Carolina and the United States have a great future but only if we come together to make difficult decisions. And that begins with sending quality, committed leaders to Raleigh and Washington!

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