Lately I have been conducting an informal survey. I ask people I meet if they think they need more politics in their lives. They generally say “No, I don’t like politics”. Have we come to believe that politics is a bad thing to be avoided at all costs? Perhaps we are just not clear about what politics is.

I then researched definitions of politics and found one from Kalish and Kalish where the authors state, “Politics is the activity we engage in together to exert control over our common affairs.”

I can’t see anything inherently bad about engaging together to exert control over our common affairs and it is the only way we as a community ever get anything done to make our community better. Based upon this definition, politics is how problems are solved in our homes, our churches, mosques, and synagogues, and also in our places of business. One of the things I’ve liked best about moving back to Faribault is how engaged everyone seems to be. Civic engagement is a hallmark of our history here in Rice County and without it, our community would not be thriving and growing. Without politics, our community would have withered up and gone away years ago.

At Ruth’s House, we would not exist at all if it weren’t for the founding mothers of the organization engaging with others in the community to help women and children in need of safe shelter. These founding mothers used politics to achieve their goals. They likely did not think of it as politics, but rather community engagement. They talked with their friends and neighbors until enough support was built up to establish Ruth’s House. I am grateful for their willingness to put their views into the public domain and to do something important in the process.

There are plenty of topics we can discuss and solve together. One such topic is our need for more safe, affordable, and dignified housing. Let’s be political and talk to one another about this important topic.