Arnold column

Capital-Journal columnist Pete Goering recently wrote about CAVE, Citizens Against Virtually Everything. I wanted to give you the genesis of that, from my in-process manuscript, "Syzygy, the Synergy of Working Together for Mutual Success."

Syzygy (siz-uh-gee) is a good metaphor for getting people to realize the increased power of working together over pulling against each other. It comes from astronomy, where the sun, Earth, and moon line up in a conjunction, called a syzygy, and their mutual gravitational pulls are strengthened by pulling in the same direction --- in a straight line --- in contrast to the usual when they are moving around each other and so pull in different directions.

LULUs (Locally Unacceptable Land Uses) came along some time back as growth and environmental protection collided with an expanding activism and citizens learning to protest. These LULUs, such as landfills, wastewater treatment plants, coal or nuclear power plants, sewage lift stations, and many more generated citizen protest.

It was the continuation of the expansion of democracy from letting the representatives make the decisions --- the "you can't fight the 'big shots' at city hall" feeling to "those people don't represent us, so I'm fighting." It was an extension from the civil rights battles to the Vietnam War, and it continues to grow around the world. Ultimately we will have a much more direct democracy for governance. But that is another story for another time.

The first action on LULUs was saying Not In My Back Yard, or NIMBY. Citizens then lobbied their council members, representatives and citizens to stop these LULUs. The elected reps responded and said NIMTO, Not In My Term Of Office, and blocked the location of the facility. Think Nuclear Waste Repository. Think filibuster.

Finally, in some locales it became clear that BANANA was the only acceptable public policy: Build Absolutely Nothing Anywhere Near Anybody.

The development followed the route of the March of Dimes, which collected money to fight polio until the Salk vaccine cleared that scourge. The organization couldn't just disband, but morphed into fighting Birth Defects, which is not likely to be cured. Similarly, the successful protesters fed on their own success and became CAVE, Citizens Against Virtually Everything, continuing to use the skills they have developed.

As a result it is much easier today to stop something than it is to get something done.

Does this fit Topeka?

John Arnold is a former chief administrative officer for the city of Topeka. He continues to live in Topeka and is an author and public speaker.

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