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What if a lot of the Cynicism is Unjustified???

2022-08-19 · letter vlog · Hank · 3:59 · watch on YouTube

Topic: US politics & society · mode: Personal essay · tags: civic or action cta, heavy topic, timely hook

Hank asks what if people and leaders are mostly well-meaning; reading High Conflict, studying the climate bill's coalitions and the death of his friend, Missoula mayor John Engen, have eased his cynicism about government, and he points viewers to How to Vote in Every State to make a voting plan.

What is said

The parts of the video and what is said in each (★ — how much it matters to the video).

00:00:00 — What if people and leaders are mostly well-meaning, trying to do right in a complicated world

  • ★★★ Hank asks viewers to consider that almost all people are pretty good, trying to make things better for themselves and those they love in a world with a lot of inertia. (hedged) — 00:00:00
  • ★★ Hank suggests that leaders who must listen to millions are mostly big bags of well-meaning worry, trying to do right when the right thing is never clear. (hedged) — 00:00:00

00:00:35 — Two causes of the change: the book High Conflict and the coalitions behind the climate bill

  • ★★ Hank finished High Conflict, which argues conflict is good and important until people care more about winning than solving the problems behind it, and how to walk back. — 00:00:35
  • ★★ Studying last week's (week of 8 August 2022) big climate bill showed Hank how complicated, important and good it is despite parts he would rather not be there, and how many coalitions had to come together to get behind it. — 00:01:08

00:01:37 — Third cause: the death of Hank's friend, mayor John Engen, and the hard jobs of city government

  • ★★★ Hank's friend John Engen, mayor of Hank's town for the last 15 years, has died. — 00:01:37
  • ★★★ Hank says city government workers have very hard jobs: they must listen to many people, represent everyone and often do things that make no one happy, since only disagreements reach their desk. — 00:01:37

00:02:36 — Leaders listen first, go unthanked; Hank's cynicism about government eases

  • ★★★ Hank says Engen understood that the first line of a leader's job description is not 'be heard' but 'listen', so people are likelier to hear him. — 00:02:36

    “the first line on the job description of being a leader was not, be heard, it was, listen”

  • ★★ Hank thinks leaders around the world do this very hard, important work, and there is no mechanism to celebrate or thank them for it. — 00:02:36

  • ★★★ It has long been hard not to be cynical about government, but conflict, the bill and Engen's life have put Hank's brain in a different space, at least for now. — 00:02:36

00:03:05 — How to Vote in Every State on YouTube and TikTok; make a voting plan; sign-off

  • ★★ Hank describes How to Vote in Every State, a YouTube channel and now a TikTok account, with a video per state on registering, voting from home, sample ballots and polling places. — 00:03:05 · How to Vote in Every State, YouTube, TikTok
  • ★★ Repeating his Twitter line, Hank calls voting the butt wiping of democracy: it doesn't solve every problem and isn't all you should do, but it is low-lift and worth doing. (playful) — 00:03:05 · Twitter
  • ★★★ Hank asks viewers without a voting plan for this election to check out How to Vote in Every State or send it to someone who needs one. — 00:03:49 · How to Vote in Every State

In the description and comments

  • ★★ The description says politicians focused on involving people in conflict create problems rather than solve them, and that the conflict machine is mostly driven by reactionary right-wing fears. — video description
  • ★★ The description says disagreement is the energy of democracy, but if everyone is hopeless or fights only to beat the opposition, nothing gets solved; be grateful for leaders who calm the fire. — video description

Threads in this video

Mentioned

Central: cynicism · John Engen

Also: High Conflict · How to Vote in Every State · Inflation Reduction Act · local government · sample ballot · TikTok · Twitter · YouTube

Only in the description or credits: Amanda Ripley · political polarization

Also centred on John Engen: Hank Interviews His Mayor

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