Social Change Is Messy

Today I had lunch with the President of the Human Rights Campaign, Joe Solomonese. While it wasn't a one-on-one lunch, myself and the other HRC interns truly enjoyed our opportunity to talk to the man on top. He casually spoke about his conversations with President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Besides being an impressive individual based on the company he keeps, he is also very insightful and an excellent communicator. He spoke a great deal about the history of the Human Rights Campaign and his experiences in politics and the professional world.

During one part of the discussion with Joe he spoke about the art of social change. He told us, "Social change is messy." I found this statement to be interesting and well-timed. During our class we have been discussing the idea that government, politics, and public policy cannot be broken down into a science. Charles Lindblom's idea of "muddling through" is the approach that is actually used everyday by civil servants here in D.C. and across the country. Public policy is best handled by dealing with each issue as it comes and avoiding the trap of being too comprehensive.

When Solomonese told us that, "Social change is messy," he was speaking about the fact that there are so many groups out there advocating for the same cause that actually crossing the finish line or creating the desired policy change is usually not a peaceful process. Solomonese used an example from the Civil Rights Movement. He said when all of the leading civil rights activists were invited into the White House to witness the signing of the Civil Rights Act none of them would speak to each other. They were all working for the same goal, but everyone had a different opinion on how to get there.

During my time in Washington, D.C. it has become pretty apparent to me that most everything is a bit of a mess. Riding the Metro is never perfect. Sometimes it's on time, sometimes it's late, sometimes the escalator works, sometimes it doesn't, sometimes your car breaks down, and sometimes you're ten minutes early. Congress thought they were going to be on vacation this week. Politics are a little messy.

There is not much in the world of public policy that can measured to the exact decimal. Not everything can be predicted.

This experience is helping me understand that being a public servant is about more than muddling through. It is about working together to make sense of something that is quite simply, a mess.

JF