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In Congress, the Democrats sit on one side and the Republicans sit on the other. Is it any wonder that the parties don’t get along? Or that they lack the resolve and unity of purpose to find common solutions to our nation’s huge problems?
Without a doubt, as Joe Reeder, a Washington lawyer and former assistant secretary of the Army, describes in his article, Break Up the Parties, “this segmented seating arrangement shelters our representatives from opposing points of view, reduces the need for common courtesy, reinforces the worst tendencies of a two-party system, and undermines efforts at cooperation.”
Being physically and emotionally separated by party intensifies the partisan rancor that’s innately alive.
What if, instead of being seated by party, representatives were seated alphabetically? You know, like you and I were seated in grade school. So the first half of fifth grade, I got to sit between Betty Oman and Bobbie Richards and the second half, Sarah Peters and Tony Quinlin. Is it any wonder that I still remember what all four brought for their lunches and if they had cats or dogs as pets. I got to know them. Intimately. And how they thought about things and what they dreamed about. And I learned how to get along with them, sitting two feet from them for eight hours a day, for four or five months at a stretch.
Is it just me, or is this a no-brainer? Mix up the members of Congress! If not alphabetically, then by birth date, or state, or by drawing names out of a hat.
But not by party.
Having assigned seating in grade school obviously doesn’t eliminate all the squabbling, but letting kids sit only with kids they like certainly would not allow for learning civility, respect for differences, collaboration and compromise.
We know that without communication, trust and mutual respect, relationships won’t be very strong. And without strong relationships, there won’t be a spirit of unity toward a common purpose. And without a strong sense of unity, you won’t have a strong team, organization, community or country. What if something as simple as a neutral seating chart for Congress eventually led to civility and bipartisan action?
One-on-one relationships are the key. Whether in grade school, corporate America or Congress. As Joan Baez said, “The easiest kind of relationship for me is with ten thousand people. The hardest is with one.”
One person relating with another, like Betty Oman and Bobbie Richards. And Bruce Braley and Steve King.
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