Monadnock Ledger Transcript – Viewpoint – Let’s Declare Peace in the Culture Wars

It is currently common to equate US politics with a “culture war”. However, as a member of parliament for the state of New Hampshire, I have no experience of war, and culture has little to do with it.

If we put aside the shorthand of the press echo chamber and examine what is really happening in our politics, perhaps we can get a more nuanced picture of what is going on in this country and in our state. Some of the machinations I have witnessed in the House of Representatives are reminiscent of the performative behavior in the U.S. House of Representatives.

This includes some strategies for passing legislation that seem to override the actual law. For example, all sides have to decide whether to pass legislation we hate based on irrelevant amendments in order to pass a priority bill that is tacked on. This creates a weird bipartisan vote that no one likes. These votes feel like parties where everyone wears headphones and dances to their own music.

But that’s as close to war as we get, and these tactics tend to undermine our ability to act even when we act separately. Sometimes it even feels like we essentially want the same thing, as when the Senate sent our bills back with its proposals and, among the various about-faces we made on the final day of voting, we managed to fund summer lunches for needy children and stop the runaway expansion of the EFA with bipartisan votes.

The term “culture” is a little more complicated because it implies so much. I don’t think people who put business success as their top priority are so united in their reasoning that they could form a “culture.” Nor are parents who demand public money to fund alternative education for their children a philosophical monolith. People who support regulation or believe in climate change have such diverse experiences and expertise that it’s impossible to narrowly characterize them.

Maybe labels simplify our thinking about the behavior (and votes) of those of us elected to represent you, but they don’t increase our ability to understand them. In fact, I believe the labels we use to define ourselves and others only fuel the fighting. They are the trenches we jump into to defend ourselves and emerge from to shoot at each other. They are the barbed wire on the front lines of politics. They prevent us from finding common ground, or sometimes even looking for it. They only serve to define our differences.

I see no way to fully serve the people of New Hampshire without turning down the people who simplify politics in our state and our country. I’m tired of hearing what people think about the economy instead of hearing how it’s really doing. I no longer want to vote on bills that address a legislator’s personal pet peeves instead of the well-being of our constituents. I refuse to have to filter religion out of bills that target specific parts of our society or to be expected to accept legislation that affects parts of people’s lives that are fundamentally none of my business.

I want to enact laws that protect the people of New Hampshire from real threats like the ubiquity of PFAS chemicals or the housing shortage. I want expansive policies that set high goals like health care for all, daycare for workers, budgets that ease pressure on cities and towns, schools that serve every family, housing and infrastructure that support our growing economy. But more than anything, I want us to put aside labels and help each other thrive, each in our own way. It’s time to understand that victories shared by cultures are failures collectively.

Molly Howard of Hancock is the Democratic state representative for Hillsborough County’s 31st District.