GUEST COLUMN.

Have you ever noticed how little kids play differently on a soccer field when someone is keeping score?  The same can be said of those human beings we elect to run our state governments. But the problem is that hardly anyone is keeping score. In fact, news coverage of our state and local governments has evaporated dramatically over just the last decade.

We are now left to drift in a vast sea of internet information. Buffeted incessantly by opinions masquerading as news. Angry that we are all so angry. And yet, understanding whether our own state is doing better over time or compared to others, or not, is an elusive game of hide and go seek.

It doesn’t need to be this way.

There is still far more that unites us than divides us.

Regardless of party or cable news affiliation, we all want to give our kids a better future; and we all pretty much agree on the definition of “better.”  Safer neighborhoods, higher performing schools, more affordable housing and college; cleaner air and water. Healthier lives.

So, here is the good news.

We no longer have to guess whether our state is doing better or worse at delivering the goods of the republic.

We can see. We can know. We can understand.

We can demand more of what works and less of what does not.

We can hold ourselves, our neighbors, and our public servants accountable to deliver results.

And — together — we can make progress.

I’m currently co-chair of an exciting new project called “America’s Pulse – 50 measures for 50 states.” It provides measures of the things that matter to all of us, just starting with reliable federally reported state by state data for high school graduation, healthcare costs, child poverty, tax burden, water quality, traffic fatalities, teen suicide, homelessness, state debt, household income, unemployment, and so on. Not opinions or hopes, but trusted and truthful measures.

Not only does America’s Pulse provide the pure data, which can often be presented in pages gritty with numbers, it includes trend-lines that show us whether our own state is doing better or worse, over the course of the last five years, compared to our neighboring states and compared to the nation as a whole.

Consider it a real-time dashboard of what’s working where, and what’s not.

In time for the celebration of our 250^th birthday as a nation, this nonpartisan platform will soon introduce something historic: direct-input democracy.  State facts are currently the centerpiece of the new civic engagement platform, but within a month or two it will enable citizens to prioritize the measures for improvement, enable learning more about the top performing states’ solutions, be able to share personal stories through text, audio, and video, humanizing the measures impact. With this kind of information in hand, we’ll be able to help to set a winning agenda for every state representative that wants our vote.

This technology opens the door for a new age for many Americans, one where we unite behind what we want, not divide.

So, check it out. Come back to the table of democracy with data you can trust. And invite your neighbors to come back with you. Truth is meant to be shared.

Many years ago, Abraham Lincoln said, “if we could first know where we are, and whither we are tending, we could better judge what to do and how to do it.”

Darkness makes a great canvas.

Now, we can all see where we are.

We can all see where our state is trending. And soon, we can use that visibility to define what we want in our future.

And with this truth, we can better judge how to make a new tomorrow — with greater liberty and justice for all.

The contents of this Guest Column are those of the author, and not necessarily Barrett and Greene, Inc

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