The hidden hope in today’s American politics

Yes, you read that headline correctly. And yes, we are falling ever deeper into a dark and grim political timeline. Both are true. And while a lot of us have been ignoring or side-eyeing the workings and mishaps and outright cruelty taking place in or around Washington DC for the past hundred plus days, or maybe the last decade or so, or maybe even longer, I stumbled upon an enormous groundswell of hope and community and cooperation in our politics.

Here. In America. In 2025.

For realz.

It’s not something I came upon watching CNN. It certainly wasn’t anything the President said, or any senator or other member of Congress. I didn’t have to dig in the YouTube archives for a vintage Obama speech, or scour through reruns of the West Wing.

No, my revelation took place in the back room of a modest, cramped, wholly unassuming municipal building in the suburbs just north of Chicago. Last Monday night, my good friend Mark Collins, who had been a long-standing trustee in his township, had run for clerk and was duly and rightfully elected into the position. Imagine that. An old-fashioned fair and uncontested election. In any event, Julie and I were there to celebrate the inaugural event.

Mark and his wife Ilene taught Julie and I some of the finer differences that demarcate a town, a city, and a township. All of that is well above my pay grade and beyond the scope of what I can offer here. Suffice to say, the point of this governmental group was to provide essential services, ensure the health and safety of their community, and literally make sure no citizen of that township was left behind.

Now, Mark himself is a great guy. He’s the life of every party, a laugher and a hugger and, perhaps most importantly, a showin’ up guy. You need something? You call Mark.

He’s custom built for the political machine, full of enormous, positive energy and charisma, but with a backbone steeled by the wily dynamics of public service, the wrangling of personality beefs and countless miles of red tape. In this age when peoples’ agendas for getting into politics tend to revolve around power and money, Mark’s election was a palate cleanser, a true breath of fresh air. He’s there to help.

Swearing-in

So let me set the scene for you a little bit. The swearing-in of these trustees, the clerk, and other local officials didn’t take place in a walnut-lined room with a dedicated dais. Nope, this place was steeped in the inner workings of a township building, part kitchen, part meeting room. One could imagine this space has potentially served as an emergency food kitchen at some point, or a temporary shelter for the unhoused. On this night, tables and chairs were set up for a trustee meeting. But there was no pretense here. No plush swivel-y seating. No gavel. Just a group of people gathering, on their time, committed to making their community better.

It shouldn’t be such a shock, but this was something to see. This scene made me emotional. It left me hopeful.

On the docket this particular night were a number on fundraising opportunities. One of the towns needed money for their Labor Day parade. One trustee was proposing a pop-up shop in the local mall to provide free prom dresses for any girl who might not be able to afford one. They joyfully announced that the food pantry had been chosen as the sole beneficiary for a local high school dance marathon, known to bring in $60-70,000 each year!

The Backpack Program

One striking example of what a local body like this can do is what this group called the Backpack Program. The program started a while back when the board became aware of teachers buying food and snacks on their own dime for kids who were going without breakfast, kids who would become hungry over the course of the school day. Now, looking around the towns in their jurisdiction, you may not think hunger would be among their concerns. This area seemed full-on upper middle class. But people can struggle in the shadows virtually anywhere. And thank God someone is paying attention, right?

So, the backpack program. The original idea was to provide students in need with a particular backpack. Each child could bring their backpack to the local food pantry and receive something to eat at school, something to take home, or both. They could fill that backpack up. What a wonderful idea, right? But in the end, the program was logistically complicated. It was confusing for some of the residents, and few took advantage. So, instead of scrapping the program, this group problem-solved, and it morphed into two programs.

Bear with me here.

The first was the Bravest Bar program. Recognizing they may be the point of first contact for potentially hungry kids, Bravest Bar provided energy and nutrition bars to teachers, who would have them readily available for any student they thought might benefit. Meanwhile, they chose to continue the Backpack Program with some tweaks. Instead of providing food, the backpack now addressed the issue of students whose families struggled to afford school supplies.

Both programs started out small with Mark and a few friends directly providing the requisite food and supplies. Mark recognized that many citizens in his community were not taking advantage of the system available to them to help their families. In fact, many were mortified to ask for the help they so desperately needed. So Mark and friends would seek them out, and provide those services directly, with a broad smile and enormous respect.

Over time, however, these programs grew quite a bit. Recently, the projects were running smoothly enough, and demand for assistance was high enough, that the township would buy a pallet loaded with various nutrition and energy bars, or school supplies. Mark would fill his truck with a load and deliver food or supplies to the initial core group of schools, as well as other schools in the area. And these same schools were provided with a stipend to purchase and have school supplies delivered. To hear Mark tell it, these programs outgrew his substantial SUV!

And the backpack program now provides hundreds and hundreds of packs stocked with school supplies to kids in need in each and every one of the area schools. Both machines now run smoothly.

Think for a moment about the thoughtfulness, care and compassion required of Mark and his colleagues to recognize these needs in the first place. Consider the ingenuity and tenacity of this group to troubleshoot when none of it seemed particularly effective, how easy it would have been to abandon the projects altogether. Well, we tried.

Think not just about how thoughtful the gestures are, but how life-altering they can be. We know hungry kids struggle academically, socially, at home and otherwise. We know kids who are not well-equipped have difficulty engaging in schoolwork. We know the stressors relieved by these programs allow space for children to thrive. These programs are game-changing, life-altering.

The food bank

The board also discussed the local food bank, a project Mark helped to spearhead years ago to fulfill the hidden but very real needs of the community. In the past, they followed the model of other banks, selecting items from each food group and handing boxes off to families in need. But in recent years, this group decided that, in order to ensure the dignity of families struggling financially, they set the food bank up very much like a grocery store. They would shop for what they needed, and leave the remainder for other families in need.

Consider just for a moment the difference that that little decision has likely made in the lives of many families. It’s moving to consider how politics done right can recognize and fulfill emotional needs as readily as pragmatic ones.

Now, he wouldn’t tell you this, and perhaps I’m not supposed to, but I know for a fact that if he learned of a family in need that might struggle to get the food bank, or might be embarrassed or otherwise limited in their resources, Mark would deliver food directly to their homes himself. Perhaps he was violating some clear or unspoken rule, I don’t know. But I do know the depth of humanity behind the gesture, and it is a thing of beauty.

In American politics. In 2025.

These ideas are just a sampling. Over the years, Mark has shared countless examples of programs and proposals much like these.

We had dinner with Mark and Ilene after his swearing-in, and he told us how these programs can feed off each other. He talked about how a township funding a program might raise awareness and attention, and perhaps bring in funds from the towns themselves, maybe even surrounding communities. The government officials might solicit the help of local businesses to ensure their community was taken care of. The point is, big things can come from small ideas. It’s that initial gesture that gets the ball rolling. That creates inclusion and equity and justice. That brings out the very best in America, and Americans.

I’ve talked to Mark about this group. I know they can experience dissonance at times. I know some lean further right than left, and vice versa. I know they, like any group with a mission, can suffer personality conflicts and differing points of view. I know they argue from time to time. But last Monday night, this felt like a body that was, on the whole, cooperating with one another. Their mission was simple and singular. Let’s take care of every single one of our people.

Following is just an excerpt from Mark’s impassioned speech immediately after taking office:

“This building, these people, you folks, save the world on a day-to-day basis. That food pantry helps so many people. The people in this building help so many people. And some of those people may be in this room. I guarantee you they live down the street from you. You know them. I get emotional because Government is that thing that cares. And it should care. It should care about everybody who lives in the community, everyone who is a citizen.”

He ended on this profound note:

“Government is important, especially at this level. Government saves lives.”

Government saves lives? Government?

I found myself struggling with this idea a bit. But then I thought about the work these people do. They provide for basic needs. Food for the hungry. Shelter from the storm. Dignity in deeply unsettling circumstances. Life-saving stuff.

You might think that’s a tad dramatic. After all, we can argue that this group is only addressing the needs of thousands of people, not hundreds of millions.

But I refuse to believe that this type of cooperation and goodwill and kindness and ingenuity and positive energy cannot take place on a larger scale. I believe that on state, federal, and even global levels, we should look to these municipalities. Meetings like the one I attended can remind us what we are about as Americans and as global citizens.

So, if things are not working perfectly on the West Wing level, dig down to the Parks & Rec level. You’ll find hope in the non-descript, seemingly ordinary makeshift back room of some municipal building where people are low-key doing the good work, the life-altering grassroots work, on behalf of their constituents. You may have to root it out, but I encourage you to attend a local government meeting.

There’s help there. There’s hope there.