Fargo List Update

Well, the "List" has certainly made some waves, and the white house is blaming it on a "local volunteer" who is "impossible" to identify. (PDF) Linda Coates seems to think otherwise. As she was entering the speech yesterday, the security apologized for the overzealous "staffer" (PDF) which implies someone not necessarily from Fargo. Anyway, Linda is very eloquent in her response and I have copied the text of her letter to the editor here.

From Linda Coates . . .


I think we can all agree that it is a momentous day when the President of the United States visits our city. And I think we can also all agree that one of our most deeply cherished American values is the right of every person's voice to be heard.

The "do-not-admit list" saga is one of those Small Dumb Things That Mean Something Bigger scenarios that happen from time to time. Clearly, it was the result of an "overzealous" individual who felt they were doing the right thing for their home team. What made this story resonate and spiral into a national news item is the gut-level twinge of anxiety it elicits in each of us, "Am I on a list somewhere? Would I even know? Could this happen to me someday?"

While those are questions that we don't ask ourselves on a typical day, it was jarring to realize that someone, somewhere, thought that making this list was the right thing to do. Sadly, the climate of keeping voices of disagreement at bay has become a well-known characteristic of this administration.

I would suggest that the people of Fargo and of North Dakota could help President Bush with some basic prairie down-to-earth advice: Let everyone be heard. Listen carefully and respectfully to all sides. Ponder what others have to say.

A wonderful advantage to living in a sparsely populated state is that governance is extremely up close and personal. Anyone who has served on a church committee, PTA, school board, township board, park district board, city commission or council, service club office, county commission, non-profit board (in other words, nearly everyone) understands that disagreements, conflicts of opinion, impassioned arguments and fiercely contested issues are not only frequent but normal and healthy. This is how solutions are arrived at in a democratic process - by spirited debate, give and take, wisdom contributed from all sides, and occasionally some heated argument thrown in for spice.

And the next day, we go back to our daily lives side by side with the people we were in disagreement with. There is no room for secret lists in small towns. We conduct our public work in the open, with our neighbors and fellow citizens, and we understand that one side or the other never has all the answers.

President Bush, you may have come to North Dakota to convince our so-called "red" voters to apply pressure to our "blue" senators to see things your way on Social Security, as you plan to do in similar states as ours. But perhaps what you will take back to Washington with you is a little bit of North Dakota wisdom. Out here we vote for who we think is the best person for the job, regardless of the letter after their name. Out here we think for ourselves, given the best information we can gather. Out here we carefully listen to all sides of an issue, because those speaking are our neighbors. And, most importantly, out here we don't shut people out of the room for simply expressing their opinion.

Linda Coates
Fargo City Commissioner
Co-owner, Raptor Recording Studios and Barking Dog Records


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Posted: Fri - February 4, 2005 at 11:23 AM, In Category:


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