A House of Civic Fellowship, in a Chaotic Time

Published earlier this month at the website of the City Club of Cleveland. —ed.

Political upheaval is both chaotic and clarifying, and the opening weeks of the second administration of Donald Trump have provided significant upheaval. There’s no need to list all of it—plenty of news organizations are keeping track. That’s the chaos. What’s clarifying, though, is how the velocity of these changes pushes us to remember who we are and what we stand for, as individuals and institutions.

One of the benefits of a 112-year-old institution is that the giants on whose shoulders we stand articulated this for us generations ago. I’m speaking of The Creed of the City Club, written about a hundred years before we drafted our current mission statement about “creating conversations of consequence that help democracy thrive.” Ralph Hayes wrote the creed. He was the club’s first paid staff member and served as our executive director before taking a post with Secretary of War Newton D. Baker in the Woodrow Wilson administration.

Different parts of the creed resonate at different times, in different eras. Today, the part I hear and feel most strongly is this:

I welcome to my platform the discussion of any theory or dogma of reform; but I bind my household to the espousal of none of them, for I cherish the freedom of every person’s conviction and each of my kin retains their own responsibility.

That line is really important, and it’s guiding a lot of the decisions we make about what forums to present. The Trump administration is bringing an entirely new theory and dogma of reform to all of federal government right now. That’s why, on March 7th, we’re presenting a forum assessing the first 50 days of the administration from the perspective of those who have supported the President. Regardless of where we all may be individually with respect to the goals and priorities of the administration, as citizens committed to democratic, constitutional governance, we need to understand the theory at work. This is also why, in April, we’ll hear from Ohio State Senator Jerry Cirino. The Senate Finance Committee chair will talk about the budgetary priorities that he sees, as well as the vision for SB 1, the controversial higher education reform package that he has championed. And it’s why earlier this month we convened a panel of local leaders to discuss the impact of and response to the administration’s changes to immigration policy.

These are the reforms that are shaping the future of our state and nation; the City Club is the place you get to come and learn about them and, also, ask questions of their proponents. Then, as the creed describes, you get to decide how you feel and what you think your responsibility is.

Just before that line of the creed is another that gives me hope:

I have a house of fellowship; under my roof informality reigns and strangers need no introduction.

Your city club is a house of fellowship. When you come to City Club, you feel it—we are in this together, this struggle and opportunity to better understand one another and better understand our role in making our democracy and our community a little bit stronger and little more resilient.

The world may feel chaotic, and you may feel that values you prize are under attack. But we will continue to do what we do and fulfill the unspoken but very real contract we have with the community—to provide forums and conversations about the most important issues, including as many different, relevant perspectives as we can, to help you understand what’s happening and what your role can be. We will continue to steward this house of fellowship, a place where everyone feels a sense of belonging, where strangers need no introduction, because we’ve been wanting to include you in the conversation and we’re glad and grateful that you’ve shown up.