Commentary: The City-State

In the past few weeks I have become acutely aware of how ignorant most people are. This is not their fault and I share the affliction. Although, my illness has abated somewhat after a year of digging at the news for Leading Voices: Iowa and for AroundDesMoines.com. The problem is that people do not know the information they are receiving is insufficient for providing them with the knowledge they must learn to acquire even the basic awareness that they are asking the wrong questions.

I have offered several examples of our collective disease in my print publication and elsewhere. Sometimes the narrow vision comes from how we view data. Women’s organizations often note that only Iowa and Mississippi have had neither a woman as governor nor a woman in the congressional delegation. Yet, 26 states have never had a woman governor, fewer have elected a woman to that position, and currently only 9 women hold the office, soon to drop down to 8. Thinking about 2 states out of 50 gives the impression that women have made great progress. However, when minds turn to 26 states out of 50, it starts to explain why so many women still feel uneasiness over the pace of equality. As for the congressional part of those numbers, 30% of the states have no woman in their present delegations but there are no states that do not have men, note the plural, representing constituents.

The lack of information on women-owned businesses is another topic I have explored in depth in Leading Voices: Iowa. The information I provide is useful for men-owned businesses, too, but there is a disturbing gender bias in how businesses are perceived. The virus here tends to be the elimination of information in news that suggests a problem. U.S. Census data shows every state had an increase in the number of women-owned businesses over the 10 years ending in 2006. However, when I calculated how the pace of sales growth compared to business growth, it started to become clear why many businesses do not create living-wage jobs for the owners, let alone for other members of the community.

I labeled this post “the City-State” because I really wanted to talk about this lack of basic knowledge and how it plays out in Des Moines. I was thinking about comparing news and discussion in the 21st Century to the concept of the agora and public discourse in the city-state of Athens. I cannot write that commentary at this time, though. I find I need to do more reporting before I have enough understanding to write about a cure. Nevertheless, I will ask one favor of local residents that I hope will help stop the spread of the disease. Please do not compare everything to CIETC and the financial improprieties in the employment and training center. It is equivalent to crying “wolf” when there are lions and tigers and bears hiding along the banks of the rivers.

Guest Writer: M.R. Field is editor of Leading Voices: Iowa.