The Election Effect

"Democracy is the worst form of government, except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time." –Winston Churchill 

If television ads, radio ads, newspaper ads, online ads, billboards, mailings, social media posts, and water cooler conversations are to be believed, apparently we are in an election season.

The fact that we have a government that is elected by our citizenship is a remarkable thing. I don’t take that lightly and I wouldn’t change that even if I could. But there is an interesting aspect about how politics works in our country which isn’t often discussed, but which has a tremendous impact on those of us working to provide services to individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

In many ways, our system comes to a grinding halt every election season.

I don’t mean that services stop getting delivered. Instead, I mean that any forward momentum from collaborations between service providers and the people who establish the rules and regulations governing those services just plain stops.

It makes sense. Uncertainty takes over during these times. Politicians want to be careful to not make too many moves that may hurt them in the election. Department heads aren’t sure if they will have a job in the next few months. Those of us providing services aren’t sure how much time, energy, and resources we should commit to working with individuals and administrations that may or may not be there for the long haul. There is little incentive to do much of anything except to stay in a holding pattern.

If our system of services was in a better place, that wouldn’t be a problem. Unfortunately, our system of services isn’t in a great place. There are many unanswered questions, many challenges which need to addressed. Sadly, the work to answer those questions and address those challenges slows way down during election season.

Next week’s election results will determine who will chair, and who will be members of the Joint Budget Committee, who will be Governor, and who will sit on the various Legislative Committees. In each case, we at Imagine! have strategies in place to go back to work to support the citizens we serve. In addition, if a new Governor is elected, he will appoint Directors of each of the State Departments that regulate our services. For each new player, we will need to go to work to demonstrate, inform, and educate on what is working and what is not working in the service systems in their control.

So we aren’t sitting still. However, it can feel a bit like we are taking two steps forward and one step back every time an election rolls around. We have to hurry up and then wait, and unfortunately, I’m not sure the people we serve are always in the position to wait.

Then again, what do I know?