Chairman of the Party

By William Osborne

The question foremost in my mind when I was writing “Chairman of the Party” was to decide if democracy was nothing more than an illusion. As both a candidate for the NC State House and as a county party chairman, I became somewhat disillusioned with the actions of both major political parties. Perhaps more to the point, I became extremely concerned with the degree to which the public at large is manipulated by our own indifference.

• Language: English
• Publisher: William Osborne
• Release date: Dec 16, 2013
• ISBN: 9781310216053

William Osborne

William Osborne served as Chair of the Rockingham County Democratic Party in North Carolina. He also ran an unsuccessful bid for the NC State House from a district that had recently been redrawn by the Republican Controlled General Assembly to favor Republicans. After spending ten years in government service, he went on to operate a private business for the next thirty years. His insight into private business practices and government give him a unique view of the political landscape when viewed from Main Street, USA.

Book preview

Chairman of

The Party

William Osborne

Copyright 2013 William Osborne

Smashwords Edition

Table of Contents

Forward

Chapter I

Chapter II

Chapter III

Chapter IV

Chapter V

Chapter VI

Chapter VII

Chapter VIII

Chapter IX

Chapter X

Chapter XI

Forward

The question foremost in my mind when I was writing Chairman of the Party was to decide if democracy was nothing more than an illusion. As both a candidate for the NC State House and as a county party chairman, I became somewhat disillusioned with the actions of both major political parties. Perhaps more to the point, I became extremely concerned with the degree to which the public at large is manipulated by our own indifference.

There was a time in America when citizens would gather in the living room to hear the national news of the war or other major national issues on the radio or perhaps on the television. Today, with cable television, radio, and the internet giving us up to the minute news, we as the body politic remain poorly informed on major issues that shape our life.

As Americans, we willfully accept and embrace the concept of Keep it Simple Stupid to a degree that I believe threatens the very foundation of our democracy. I believe we have the ability to regain our principles of democracy, but I doubt we have the inclination to do so.

Throughout this book, I have used a number of issues to make various points. My objective was not to change public policy or opinion, but rather to look at the process of how we make decisions. I encourage you to share your opinion of this book. Together, let’s try to make America a better place for our children.

William Osborne

Chairman of the Party

One of the most valuable lessons I have learned in life came from psychiatrist Dr. Robert Hutchins. I worked with Dr. Hutchins at an acute care inpatient psychiatric hospital in Johnson City Tennessee. While I was dealing with a schizophrenic patient, Dr Hutchins made an important observation, which he gave me as a warning in self-protection. It does not matter who you are, how you are dressed, or what you say. If the patient believes you are a Viet Cong soldier, then as far as the patient is concerned, you are a Viet Cong solider.

I realized this lesson applies not only to the practice of psychology, but also to all human interactions. Dr. Hutchins was in effect saying that people respond to what they believe to be true rather than responding to the objective reality. In this book, I refer to his teaching as the Hutchins principle. This concept exposes one of the core problems we face in modern democracy. We tend to act on belief while discounting objective evidence or reality. We as the voting public take little or no time to discover objective truth or understand who is pulling the puppet strings.

When asked why I was writing this book, I responded with a quote attributed to Galileo, "All truths are easy to understand once they are discovered; the point is to discover them".

Late in the afternoon on March 17, 2011, I sat in my office, completely oblivious to the world of politics. I might add that I was quite happy to be oblivious. Like many Americans, I usually meet my patriotic responsibility by voting in municipal, state, and federal elections. To say that I followed local or even state issues would be an overstatement of significant proportions. I was, however, very focused on national issues.

I received a call at 4:30 pm and asked if I would consider serving as the next Chairman of the Rockingham County Democratic Party. I thought the request was rather unusual as only two weeks prior I, with great reluctance, agreed to serve as a precinct officer.

What made the request even more confusing was the fact that I had not been involved with the local party, even though I had worked on several campaigns in the mid 1980’s. At that moment, I was asked to lead the party.

Two days later on a Saturday morning, the Democrats elected me chair of the party. I obtained this position not due to special ability or knowledge, but rather due to significant voter apathy.

What I would learn over the next year and a half would renew my greatest hopes, as well as confirm many of my worst fears. In due course, I would discover that most issues we face in Rockingham County are not unique to a North Carolina county located on the Virginia-Carolina border. In fact, many of my observations are systemic in nature.

Unfortunately, I grew to suspect there is very little hope for the future well being of our nation, unless we decide to make radical changes in the way we think about and arrive at solutions to our issues going forward.

It is my preference to write fiction as I can mold my characters with dreams, imperfections, hope, love, betrayal, and all the other characteristics typical of the human condition. I can distort time, place, and person while twisting the plot in order to deny the reader plausible predictability and the certainty of an acceptable outcome.

In real life as opposed to fiction, we are not so fortunate as to be able to script events and outcomes. Still, there are those times in our daily life experience when fiction and reality converge.

As a nation, we unknowingly adopt the concept and phrase Keep it simple stupid, coined by aeronautical engineer Kelly Johnson. We have been so successful at keeping politics and social issues simple, that we have lost sight of the basic underlying truth inherent in rational political and social discourse. We seem very content to believe the problems we face are the result of a political party or some abstract faceless official in some distant place. Unfortunately, we often don’t even know the name of the faceless elected official.

I take issue with laying responsibility for our problems with the politicians or corporate leaders who create focus group cookie cutter philosophies or endlessly spout useless talking points. In reality, why blame candidates and elected officials for our personal irresponsibility? It may seem odd to quote both Galileo and Pogo author, Walt Kelly in the same chapter, but this quote is on target; "We have met the enemy and he is us".

The problem is, Americans have expanded and endorsed the KISS principle (keep it simple, stupid) to an all time high.

Perhaps the most troubling part of my thesis is the fact that the KISS principle applies far beyond politics to include religion, economics, relationships, education, and a host of other human endeavors. In 1982, Tom Peters and Robert Waterman wrote a best selling book titled, In Search of Excellence. My personal suspicion is that we should now be writing a new book that carries the title, Clawing Our Way up to Mediocrity.

In many respects, what I am describing as the KISS principle is a process that, if not actually a social pathological condition, is at best a condition whereby we live under illusions brought about by indifference and misinformation. The KISS process leads us to the convergence point of fiction and reality.

I have taken the basic keep it simple, stupid concept and by attaching different principles, extended it far beyond the original intent envisioned by Kelly Johnson. Several principles establish the groundwork for my proposition.

In the first KISS principle, I contend that we often fail to recognize the idea that actions have consequences. More to the point, we seem to forget that even consequences have implied or real consequences. More precisely stated, actions can lead to a chain of consequences each triggered by the preceding consequence. We may have some basic recognition of the initial event, but we often lose sight of the chain of consequences that occur because of the initial action.

The second major KISS principle is one of connection between what we think are unrelated events. Very often, we tend to view events as single or isolated occurrences while disregarding cause and effect. The inverse of this principle would also be true in cases where we establish a relationship between cause and effect when in fact no relationship exists.

My third principle involves the process of inductive reasoning. In this situation, we tend to see isolated examples of an activity and assume that what we see represents the totality of the big picture. Once again, the inverse of this principle is also a problem. On occasion, we see the big picture and make assumptions about the discrete pieces that make up the puzzle.

The fourth KISS principle involves our inability or unwillingness to see through the fog of misinformation or deception in order to obtain clarity. Despite the fact that we live in the information age, we usually do not take full advantage of the opportunities available to us. Usually, we seek information that only confirms our previous opinion.

The fifth KISS principle involves the old adage that defines, the diffusion of responsibility is no one’s responsibility. This principle is evident in daily life and knows no limit or bound. We often hear people say, "I don’t volunteer at the hospital; I do not need to take food to the soup kitchen;