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Show Conflict healthy for government Area benefits from diverse views there is a misnomeraBout the word conflict and its other synonyms including, in-cluding, argue and disagree. . : The conflict itself isn't negative and terrible, only the above mentioned modes of handling conflict. Constructively Con-structively handled conflict or disagreement can bring positive results, especially in the political arena. Conflict! Ugh, what a nasty word. Think of all the negative connotations derived therefrom. Remember back to that conflict in the schoolyard resulting in one black eye, a bloody nose and chipped tooth. Marital conflict exudes feelings of a struggling marriage and unhappy children. Armed Ar-med conflict reminds one of war, carnage and death. Despite the negative feelings associated with these experiences, There is one thing that hopefully will happen with regards to involvement and "conflict," if you will. Republicans and Democrats tend to, in the traditional sense, experience "sharp disagreement, as of interests and ideas." With local elections fast approaching and the time for good' potential candidates can-didates to make decisions on if and how to run, it will be in the best interests of Iron County and its municipalities to have viable candidates from both parties. Neither political party is more trustworthy, loyal, helpful, brave, clean or reverent than the other. Both are only as good as the individuals representing them. In southern Utah, the gap in philosophies between Democrats and .Republicans probably isn't that vast, J)ut it is healthy:. Hopefully, both parties "can encourage good candidates to give it a shot come November. An example of what I'm saying can be found in Cedar City. The Cedar City Council is composed of two Democrats and three Republicans, along with a Democratic mayor. Some very well thought-out and disagreed-about decisions have come from the Council because of the party balance. It would be great to see such a balance in many of our political bodies in Iron County. A broad, more encompassing en-compassing outlook and philosophy tends to result. f Mike Cannon ' Webster's definition of conflict includes in-cludes sharp disagreement, as of interests in-terests or ideas. When different interests or ideas are voiced in a group, a better,. ..more thorough decision is 3ften. reached because all the angles have been considered. Our political system is designed to handle constructive conflict and, indeed, in-deed, thrives on it. It's great to be able to disagree and not be carried off at night or hanged by our toes and have a wet noodle run between our ears. It's good to "disagree without, being disagreeable" as one leader aptly put it. Unfortunately, we often fail to take advantage of this right. This is nothing new and probably won't change, especially because of some "scintillating" column by myself. |