Much more than you’d think! At first glance politics and cooperatives seem to be almost opposite of each other. Politics is on the forefront of many of our minds these days and co-ops tend to be unknown to most of the population. But in reality there are lots of similarities between how thing happen politically and how they happen cooperatively.
I recently attended the 19th Biennial Election Law Seminar in Austin Texas to learn more about the primary election process here in Texas. Let me just say that it’s night and day different from the primary process in Illinois. But as I sat through this day-and-half long session I was reminded so many times of the similarities between the co-op world and the political world.
One of the themes I took from the conference was “when you invest in training you win” and I couldn’t agree more! In the co-op world training is an integral part of everything we do (Education is a Cooperative Principle, after all!) from outreach (teaching people what a co-op is and why it’s important) ownership (educating them on the benefits of being part of a co-op) to owner loans (educating volunteers about the intricacies of owner loans so they can educate owners) and education after the store opens (hello teaching kitchen!). I’m currently working with Oshkosh Food Co-op to train their capital campaign volunteers and you can read more about that here.
In the political world things get done on a grassroots level. Community members invite candidates into their homes to introduce them to neighbors. Hello! This sounds quite familiar to a co-op house party. Candidates get in front of every group they can to tell their story and ask for votes, to me that sounds a lot like a co-op getting in front of the local Rotary or Kiwanis club. Voters most often make decisions based on personal interactions…that is why no-one (OK, almost no-one) joins a co-op unless they’ve been asked to join by someone they know and trust.
Even though it may seem that co-ops are far from the forefront of today’s happenings. I see you out there fighting the good fight, hosting co-op house parties, inviting the co-op to your book club and talking to your friends and neighbors about all the good the cooperative movement brings to the table. Keep up the good work my friends!
