Decisions Are Made by Those Who Show Up

Decisions Are Made by Those Who Show Up.

This should be such an obvious statement; self-evident, as I will quote in a bit. But it doesn’t seem to be the case. Some show up and make the decisions, and some don’t show up and complain about the decisions being made.

“What they should have done was…”

Decisions Are Made by Those Who Show Up.

I first heard this statement about twenty years ago on an episode of West Wing. It was about when I was leaving one job and heading to another, full of hope and optimism. A fresh start. A new company.

This time it will be different.

Or so I thought until the first meeting. Where decisions were made. But there was always someone who couldn’t show up. Typically, the owner’s sons. Or the owner herself. Who would then complain about the decisions made and usually reverse them.

I remember the beginning of the job before that. There were weekly meetings of the department heads across two separate companies, one a parent of the other. I should have been in that meeting, but my predecessor had bowed out so often, they didn’t include my position. But there was a new sheriff in town, and I made it a point that I should be in that meeting.

What was I thinking?

There were ten chairs around that conference room and, typically, no more than eight asses in them. The other two were ‘too busy,’ doing Really Important Stuff. But the aftermath of the meetings was chaos as two and three-person meetings were held. A bloodless coup. Decisions were reversed by those too important to show up.

Fast forward twenty years. I’m retired and moved into a lovely little community full of terrific people. Once construction was complete, the new HOA was formed, and I was courted to be one of the founding members of the new board. I had been involved with HOAs in the past and swore I never would again.

But this time, it would be different.

What was I thinking?

Five people making decisions for the 150 who wanted us to represent them. Voted for us. Put their faith in us.

And then spent the next two years bitching about every decision made; usually the most trivial choices receiving the loudest complaints. Should we allow trash cans to be put out at 4 pm instead of 5 pm? Who gives a shit?

Apparently, 150 people do.

“We hold these truths to be self-evident,” they said, “that all men are created equal.” Strange as it may seem, that was the first time in history that anyone had ever bothered to write that down. Decisions are made by those who show up.
President Josiah Bartlet

And then, move ahead another few years, and we are plagued by a pandemic and one of the most hotly debated presidential elections in history. There were few in the middle. The left and the right were polarized and vocal.

Voter turnout in the United States over the last 100 years has pathetically averaged in the 50th percentile in most elections. This means that only half of the eligible voters bothered to show up, and a mere 25% chose the winner. In a very few years, that number soared to 30%. Thirty percent of those allowed to vote, chose the president.

When I see that number, I am reminded of Iraq’s first election after Hussein was dethroned. People stood in line to vote while other people shot at them. We can’t vote because we are too stupid or lazy, while in a country that has never had an election, people are willing to risk death to cast their vote.

The most pathetic turnout in the nation’s history, ironically occurred during the bicentennial of the country when less than half of the eligible voters turned up. Something around 24% of the voters, or 49% of those who voted put Bill Clinton into office. The number picked up significantly to put Barack Obama in office but still, only 57% voted, the best turnout since 1968 when Nixon was elected.

But listening to four years of highly vocal citizens on both sides ranting about Trump one way or another meant that things would change. The voices only got louder as the pandemic grew and election day got nearer.

This time it would be different.

And it was, but not by much. Not by enough. Not nearly by enough.

The numbers aren’t all in yet. (If only we possessed some sort of machinery that was good at counting things.) But estimates range from 66–72% of eligible voters turned out last November. This is the best turnout since 1900. I guess I should be impressed.

But I’m not. Where were the rest of you? Something around one-third of the country stayed home or couldn’t be bothered to spend the five minutes required to fill out an absentee ballot.

Popular opinion is that the results of elections still reflect the will of the people. That if the rest of the citizens who had something more important to do for that hour of their lives showed up, the results would be the same.

Maybe. Maybe not. We’ll never know. But that’s okay. I think the best candidate won. At least the best of the two at this exact moment in time.

And in the end, it doesn’t matter, the decision was made. By 35% of the people.

Decisions are made by those who show up.