Meet The Bloggers: Tim Ryan

Saturday midday, August 19th, we rolled on down to Café Momus in Akron to meet political wunderkind Tim Ryan, currently Congressman for Ohio’s 17th Congressional District, which takes in most of Portage County, most of Trumbull County, the southeast quadrant of Summit County, and the northeast corner of Mahoning. We had about 15 bloggers and blogger support in the room, which is a good turnout.

George Nemeth led off asking for information on the topic of the Youngstown Business Incubator, where Ryan has an office and where Ted Strickland has recently visited to observe the success stories such as Softek and Turning Technologies, with Ernst & Young technology entrepreneur of the year Michael Broderick. The incubator focuses on software development to replace the jobs based in steel, rubber, automobiles, and auto parts that are disappearing with the industrial economy. As Ryan says, “We gotta grow our way out of this,� and it’s happening with working relationships with South Korea and a UPS contract, for starters. Retirees and their income right now stabilize the area, but the long-term plan must be for regionalization, assembling 14 counties into a “Western Reserve Heritage Area,� supporting entrepreneurs and risk-takers, parlaying agricultural prowess into energy leadership. As Ryan points out, we’ve always been hard workers and winners around here, and there’s no reason that shouldn’t continue. The last 25 years have been a bump in the road. This guy knows how to lead and how to inspire. It’s a commodity that’s in short supply.

We got into a little background material, Bowling Green, Franklin Pierce Law in New Hampshire, Boston, the 2000 elections, Clinton and Gore, bowling alleys and bingo halls, his driver The Shark, precinct committeepeople, the wunderkind who still has “never had a real job,� voting rights (Terra Milo from The Chief Source) and how “ridiculous� it is for a Secretary of State to be able to oversee his own election, Rolling Stone Magazine, Robert Kennedy, Kurt Vonnegut, George Bush, Arabs, algebra, and a paper trail to audit election results.

Patti Choby of CWRU and the MTB “Reframed Dialogue Sessions� brought in community development issues of housing, foreclosures, lead paint abatement, the Housing Act of 1949, and the conversation took off to cover Joseph Campbell and The Myth of the Hero, Bill Moyer and The Power of Myth, virgin births appearing in the mythologies of various cultures, generational musical taste distinctions, Frank Sinatra juxtaposed with Dave Matthews, trying to stay “in the zone,� Michael Broderick and leadership at the local level, how “normal� is not going to get you anywhere, the courage of Mayor Williams of Youngstown running as an independent, Jack Murtha and the Profiles in Courage Award, JFK speeches, the JFK library, moral issues, Tom Hanks and Apollo 13, Scott Bakalar and his musical composition featuring Tim Ryan, using sports analogies for connecting with constituents, remembering to always ask “how does it feel?�, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Tip O’ Neill, Daniel Patrick Moynihan, the current void of leadership in congress with no champions of the people, “we’re all interconnected,� how you learn by fire, the many ways to like Newt Gingrich, Alvin Toffler and Revolutionary Wealth, government constraints on the creation of wealth, Jim Rhodes and “profit’s not a dirty word,� auditing the government, the Blue Dogs, John Tanner, The Industrial Age, streamlining and focusing government, how we can’t keep on going back to the taxpayer, being pro-choice and pro-life, “The Abortion Reduction Act,� the S-chip, babysitting centers on college campuses, not being judgmental, trying to be holistic, springtime for Toffler in Youngstown, The Third Wave, foreclosures, indentured servitude, hierarchies, networks, and how we’re all tied together somehow.

One thing I realize now is that I didn’t take such good notes on this particular session, mainly because I was engaged by this remarkable young man and his yearning for all of us to live in a world of ideas and limitless possibilities. He sees the vision, he knows how to lead us toward it, and he knows the difference between hierarchical and networked. He’s a communicator, and I guess you’ll just have to listen to the podcast to see what I mean. Tim Ryan may be the best chance any of us has, either side of the aisle, to move forward and attain our potential as a people. I can’t say enough. Listen. This is the future, beckoning.

Part 1. Time: 11.08
Part 2. Time: 14.32
Part 3. Time: 13.17
Part 4. Time: 13.08
Part 5. Time: 12.14

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