The essays, analyses and opinions presented as Community Voices express the perspectives of their authors on topics of interest and importance to the community, and are not intended to reflect perspectives on behalf of the Salish Current.
Commentary: America is a land of all kinds of tribes and ethnicities and flavors, and we do well to search out the principles each holds dear
Following up re the Jeff Margolis story last week, “Going face-to-face at voter events in South Fork Valley”:
In the mid-’80s when I was the director of Concerned Christian Citizens here in Whatcom County, I was visited one day by this scruffy, bearded, Jewish guy who, as I recall, wanted to check on this outfit with a Lynden office to see what they were made of. We shared our stories and it soon became clear how much we had in common. How could that be — his roots in New York City and mine in a dairy farm in Lynden?
Well, we both were educated in the ’60s, Jeff at Michigan State, and I at Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Michigan. It was a grand time to be a college student, given the ferment over Viet Nam, civil rights and more. I’m sure we disagreed on a lot, but there was quickly a tone of respect in our conversation. Respect is a profound concept, one that is in short supply in our polarized nation. Respect enables!
It enabled Jeff to examine this Christian guy and the somewhat peculiar organization he represented. He learned that CCC operated out of set of principles rooted in the Scriptures seeking to do the work of justice. In turn, Jeff was introduced to justice by studying Plato. We both have viewed doing justice as the primary task of government. And he was living a life in the obscurity of Van Zandt, advocating for just causes in his community and using the counter of Everybody’s Store to ask questions and hold forth with his thoughts on the subject at hand. Always respectfully, I’m sure.
All of which prompts me to use Jeff as an example of what we need so critically in our community and country, that is “principled pluralism.” It is a concept and phrase that needs more understanding and usage. We must recognize the pluralistic character of America — we are a people of all kinds of tribes and ethnicities and flavors, and we do well to search out the principles they hold dear. Of course far too much of politics is sheer self-interest, or national interest, which does little to advance the principles of justice.
Jeff Margolis goes about his community seeking the common good, and though he likely doesn’t use the vocabulary, he is really a principled man who understands the pluralistic character of his community, and country. The aforementioned article about Jeff is a further example telling of his interest in the upcoming Charter Review Commission, which is elected every 10 years to review the charter (or constitution) that governs Whatcom County.
County charter review
All of this thinking about Jeff prompted me to actually call him after decades of separation. I found his phone number and an hour and 20 minutes later we two old warhorses came away as we started, so different from each other, beaten and scarred by pains of life, both having lost a wife, yet still in the struggle to make the world a better place, and to chase justice even in the obscurity of the Charter Review Commission.
Jeff had remembered that I had been on the commission. Actually, I was on twice, the first in 1985 and again in 1995. It was in ’95 that we amended the preamble with the underlined changes below:
“Treasuring the many wonders of our unique environment and realizing that the power and duty to govern and protect this region is inherent in its people, we, the citizens of Whatcom County, in order to have a government which advances justice, inspires confidence, and fosters responsibility, do adopt as the foundation of our government, this Charter. (Amended by referendum 1995).”
Jeff seemed to like these changes and further noted that the Charter Review Commission is a good place to identify new candidates for the county council or state legislature. We noted Marge Laidlaw, Georgia Gardner, Ben Elenbaas, Ken Bell and there were surely more.
Margolis also said he hopes the commission will consider ranked-choice voting, an electoral system that allows people to vote for multiple candidates, in order of preference, instead of just choosing who you want to win. (A further description may be forthcoming as the commission votes on issues to consider.)
All of which is to say, I’m honored Jeff Margolis walked into my office 40 years ago. He is the kind of man who wrestles with the concept of justice, who doesn’t chase after his selfish interests, but seeks to advance justice according to the principles he lives by. May his number multiply!
— By Ron Polinder
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