To help child abuse survivors, Speaker Rozzi must play politics well

Originally published at The Philadelphia Inquirer

I’m done telling politicians, “Don’t play politics.” It clearly confuses them. Take Pennsylvania House Speaker Mark Rozzi. No, literally, please take him back to the state Capitol and show him where the House is. On the way there, remind him he’s the speaker of it, and not some modern-day Moses commissioned to endlessly bang around Pennsylvania on a listening tour.

It’s not “don’t play politics,” but “play politics well” — as in, to win. Thanks to our checks and balances system that stymies tyranny, winning in politics is different from “winner takes all.” In politics, achieving victory by enacting your priorities into law requires uniting various factions to stand with you. That means you win your issue by advancing some of theirs.

Success in governing requires working with others on the issues they care about, too.

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