Talk Business & Politics editorial: Pryor lessons

The passing of unique actors in Arkansas’ political and business circles provides a chance to reflect on their broad legacies and, arguably more important, the opportunity to consider how we may individually and collectively do better based on their example.

So it is with the passing of David Pryor, who was hailed by those in both parties as a statesman dedicated to making the state a better place with a better future for all residents. The former Arkansas House member, Arkansas governor, U.S. representative and U.S. senator died April 20. He was 89.

Pryor – a Democrat when the party was dominated by what would today be considered moderate, if not conservative, platforms – was not only feted by other Democrats after his passing but also received accolades from Republicans of today for his political success.

Gov. Sarah Sanders noted Pryor’s “diligent stewardship” and thanked him “for his role in burying the divisive racial politics that infected Arkansas government before his tenure.” U.S. Sen. John Boozman, R-Ark., said Pryor’s “life was characterized by service to his community, state and country,” adding that he “greatly admired the courtesy, integrity and wisdom he personally modeled and instilled in others.”

U.S. Rep. Steve Womack, R-Rogers, said Pryor was “the epitome of a statesman for the Natural State.” U.S. Rep. Rick Crawford, R-Jonesboro, said Pryor was “dedicated to Arkansans and worked to improve their lives.” U.S. Rep. Bruce Westerman, R-Hot Springs, a former intern for Pryor, noted, “The intentional investments he made in my life, and that of many other Arkansans, have been instrumental in the growth of our great state.”

It’s anything but a stretch to note that U.S. politics has become divisive to the point of being all but non-conducive to what was once considered good governance. That reality has infected almost all levels of government, from small city local politics to the highest federal reaches. Polemic rhetoric drowns out the pragmatic response. Collaboration is anathema when confrontation is immediately rewarded with campaign donations. Extreme voices in both parties often results in coalition building being a fool’s errand.

But coalition building was the recipe for Pryor’s political success. Ironically, the praise from Gov. Sanders and other Republicans was because Pryor consistently engaged a political formula that is now a rarity among political leaders of both parties.

“Politics is not about subtraction, it’s about addition. And you added all these little coalitions and groups together, and before you know it, you come close to having a majority. I mean, you build a force. You put all the little pieces together, kind of like a puzzle,” Pryor said in a September 2013 interview about his political career.

And that’s the lesson; to “build a force” that improves the world around us; appealing to the majority of us who believe good governance is as possible as it is preferred – from small city local politics to the highest federal reaches.

Pryor’s lesson is as simple as it is transformative. Vast improvements in public health and education, social security and other aging support programs, our federal interstate system, workplace safety gains, U.S. leadership in space exploration and its associated beneficial spinoffs, development of the internet and ongoing efforts to expand the reach of broadband, gains in minority access to opportunity, and cultural and natural preservation are just a few examples of what happens when political foes find compromise. While not always perfect, the compromises resulted in broad benefits for this American experiment.

When many opinions are hotly espoused about the best path toward good governance, solutions often are found somewhere in between. It’s the story of what emerged in the summer of 1787 after several hot and uncomfortable days in a room in Philadelphia. That’s where Pryor lived. It’s a place to which we all should strongly encourage those wanting our votes to return.

We pen and post this editorial knowing its primary appeal will be considered naive by many – even by some who may also long for a time when political leadership was a venue for the sincere and not the sensational.

But we believe Pryor, a former newspaper publisher who in political life was rarely constrained by what self-appointed sophisticated skeptics might say was unrealistic, would appreciate a public call to lower the volume and raise the respect; to rescind personal rhetoric and restore the security and fertility of common ground.