Delano Herald Journal

Serving the communities of Delano, Loretto, Montrose, MN, and the surrounding area

Ivan Raconteur Column – 09/03/21



I was corresponding with a local elected official recently, and he made a comment that is consistent with something I’ve been thinking about a lot lately.

“It’s amazing what we can do when the community comes together,” he observed.

That is absolutely true.

Unfortunately, despite the fact it is such a simple concept, many people seem incapable of understanding it.

Across the board, individuals, businesses, politicians, and governments fail to grasp this simple truth, and miss opportunities as a result.

It starts with individuals.

One only has to look at social media to see how widespread this has become.

Often, it seems that all a person needs to do is ask a question or make an innocuous statement, and almost immediately, others begin attacking the person who posted the comment or question. They don’t limit themselves to criticizing the issue, they demonize the person, as well.

These venomous critics come armed not with facts, but with opinions, and no amount of evidence to the contrary will change their minds.

It is bullying. The goal is to silence anyone who does not support their opinion. They see anyone with a different viewpoint, and even those with no opinion on a subject, as the enemy.

Many elected officials are as bad or worse. They might take an oath to represent all of their constituents, but their words and actions tell a different story. The reality is they only represent constituents who believe the same things they do.

If they are interacting with other elected officials, they will do anything they can to prevent their opponents from achieving anything.

If you listen to what they say, or read what they write, it’s clear that they claim that everything they do is 100 percent right, and everything their opponents do is 100 percent wrong. There is no room for compromise, only gridlock.

So here’s a radical idea. Instead of spending all this time and energy desperately trying to prevent others from accomplishing anything, what if these individuals and elected officials worked together?

It is true that the nature of compromise makes it unlikely that anyone will get everything they want, but wouldn’t getting some – even most –of what they want be better than no one getting anything, and nothing getting done?

Fortunately, there are people who understand this and work toward this goal, but it’s not easy in the current climate.

Change is possible. If people behave like mature adults instead of like spoiled children, there’s no limit to what people can accomplish.

There have been examples of this throughout history, and there’s no reason we can’t work together today.

As the astute official to whom I was talking pointed out, it really is amazing what we can do when the community comes together.





































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