If you read or watch the local and national press, it is hard not to be a cynic. Our public discourse, like our politics, is polarized and often even shrill. On the rare occasion that I turn on Fox News or read the editorials in the Wall Street Journal, I am amazed at what appears to be a different reality from my daily copy of the New York Times or National Public Radio show, let alone my favorites, Lawrence O’Donnell and Rachel Maddow on MSNBC.
The cynic assumes that narrow self-interest drives all discourse. There is no objective “truth” in government, the cynic says, just a policy that helps or hurts my party or interest group or my personal finances. Thus, members of the state legislature or Congress cannot or will not break with leadership to vote for a bill proposed by the leader of the “opposition” party, even though a substantially similar bill supported by their party would gain overwhelming support. The recent failure of important bills on the state and federal level are evidence of this.
We are too often afraid to grant our “adversary” or really anyone who may disagree with us the basic courtesy of believing that their policy view is based on broad good intentions instead of only narrow personal benefit. The problem with distrusting intentions—beyond bad social manners of course—is that it provides an easy excuse to stop listening altogether.
I believe that this cynicism, particularly on a local level, is misplaced. In order to move our community forward, we need the honest and open participation of all stakeholders. Political labels or differences are unimportant to helping our city and region. Urban or suburban, liberal or conservative, we all have the responsibility to help our city move forward and be successful, and we all benefit from or are impacted by such success or failure. The perception and indeed the reality of our capital city is something that affects all of us in the region.
I am aware that my other business interest in real estate through WCI Partners leads some to believe that my political advocacy as chair of the Harrisburg Capital PAC is merely financially motivated and thus unworthy of support, as recent public arguments with the Patriot News have demonstrated.
This viewpoint is wrong on two levels. First, we need more, not fewer, investors and stakeholders in the city who have a deep financial commitment to improving life here. As a community overall, we should want to attract more investors who want to build their business and real estate holdings in the city instead of somewhere else. Our population decline from almost 100,000 in 1950 to less than 50,000 today shows that we have lost many of those stakeholders and that we need them back. We should welcome any new business owner or resident who wants to join us in Harrisburg, while acknowledging that they are not likely to do so if it is not in their financial self-interest. The costs of municipal government will only continue to increase over time, and, if we don’t grow our economic base to pay for it by incentivizing new investment today through tools like tax abatement (which actually increases municipal revenues), our fiscal problems will continue long into the future.
On another level, however, I know that there are many business and community people who want to build Harrisburg, regardless of their personal financial situation. The co-members of the PAC are a terrific example. For many of them, Harrisburg is a place where they, like me, spend their financial resources, not where they make them. There are numerous successful people from throughout the region who want to see Harrisburg adopt best practices that are successful in other cities. It is not because of any personal financial stake, but because they know that we all do better if Harrisburg does better.
So, save the cynicism, if you must, for national issues, but put it aside on the local level. Our city needs anyone who is willing to help, for whatever reason, to bring our city back. We need enlightened self-interest and, yes, even plain old self-interest, if we want to rebuild our city. Let’s put in place policies that will attract them.
J. Alex Hartzler is publisher of TheBurg.
