“It ought to be remembered that there is nothing more difficult to take in hand, more perilous to conduct, or more uncertain in its success, than to take the lead in the introduction of a new order of things. Because the innovator has for enemies all those who have done well under the old conditions, and lukewarm defenders in those who may do well under the new. This coolness arises partly from fear of the opponents, who have the laws on their side, and partly from the incredulity of men, who do not readily believe in new things until they have had a long experience of them.” Machiavelli.

This quote is on my wall from a small sketch of my dear, late mentor, Warren Featherstone Reid, who served at the side of Sen. Warren G. Magnuson, Gov. Booth Gardner, Rep. Jim McDermott and others for so many years.

Why is change so hard?

The institutionalization of power is a sight to behold. It is inevitable. The question is not who or how much power will be accumulated nor whether it will be used for questionable purposes. But whether the people will retain the will to retake their own authority. And to be heard.

Barack Obama struggles with health care insurance reform this week just as the state legislature strives to complete the 2010 budget. Both challenges are made more difficult by the lack of intellectual, political and policy support from our colleagues across the partisan aisle. The strategy of doing nothing, blocking any forward momentum and refusing to participate in a gracious dialogue about how to improve our state and nation’s quality of life is perhaps understandable.

There is little glory in serving as the loyal opposition.

And yet our nation is weaker because of the Republicans’ unwillingness to engage. The days of Governor Dan Evans, the moderate Republican who led our state through three successful terms of extraordinary progress, seem more than only a generation ago. They seem like a different era entirely. The most difficult reality check is that the Republicans seem unashamed of their lack of engagement. They have no interest in the burden of governing. That part troubles me the most.

Sen. Rodney Tom’s struggle with the state budget seems less to me about left versus right and more about the deeper challenge of bringing about systemic reform. I share his quiet, uncomfortable reservations about the budget we have crafted.

The economics of our state budget requires a courageous honesty about efficiency. We have an unsustainable model where health care is crushing our ability to fund other programs. Health care costs for employees and public programs at the local, county, state and national levels are simply corrupting our ability to make financially prudent decisions. And yet we were unwilling to attempt structural changes to public employee health care programs that would move away from a illness-based system to a prevention-oriented system of care. Many claim that “prevention” programs work only modestly well, and others say they take years to recognize any savings. Perhaps. And yet we must take this step. This is one of the dark secrets of our state budget. We must make a systemic change in our model.

To date we have been unwilling to embrace changes to our state employee health care plans. And yet it is not sustainable under the current system and ultimately we will have no other choice.

Ideas such as consolidating the 296 school districts should not be so difficult. They are the right thing to from a fiduciary point of view. Reforming higher education so that we have a more collaborative and less competitive approach to our two and four year institutions should be possible.

The tea party movement and the anger at President Obama from the left seem to me less about about conservatism or liberalism and more about the feeling of the lack of control in our lives. The lack of accountability against big business and big government that together seem to get richer while real people living real lives struggle with unemployment, underemployment, health care costs, taxes, housing and other daily realities.

In Olympia this week the progressive community argues for more revenue, conservatives for more spending cuts. What our state cries out for is a courageous, honest, aggressive, thoughtful, engaged and vigorous attempt at systems reform.

The journey of a thousand miles…

Your partner in service,

Reuven.