Finding common cause

The nation is divided. Red and blue. Blue and red. Sometimes I think it's significant that the only place you really see those two colors together is on the nation's flag — or on a clown. It's kind of funny — though not really, in the same way a clown is often sad — that in our country, and countries the world over, we focus more on our differences than on what we have in common.

That's why I feel this issue strikes such a positive note. The three feature stories (on pages 20, 26 and 28) are about initiatives that bring people and companies with different strengths together to address common needs on a national scale.

The cover story on page 20 is about an ambitious plan resurrected by the National Telecommunications Cooperative Association to form regional and national networks out of rural and state networks. It's one part circling the wagons and two parts full offensive — keeping the independent spirit alive while cautioning companies not to take that independence to harmful extremes. Small telcos could then work from a common mission statement: Unite to secure our future.

On page 28 is a story about a national pilot program launched by the FCC to connect rural health care centers with one another and with centers nationwide. Joan Engebretson's story on page 26 examines the Wireless Communications Association National Public Safety Plan for the 700 MHz spectrum, another national effort. And her story on page 8 touches on the amazing speed and response to a call for a national wireless Amber Alert system.

Granted, some of these initiatives may get bogged down from the politics surrounding them to the point they resemble the battle between the Communications Workers of America, the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers and FairPoint Communications, covered in the story on page 6. But so far, so good.

That folks found the time and circumstances right to launch these campaigns is encouraging in itself from both a business and a unity perspective.

When it comes to our flag, I like to think the white holds the blue and red together. I used to say that while the blue and the red represented the Democratic and Republican views, respectively, the white represented the Independent — the voter, not the magazine.

But in light of stories of the stories in this issue, I am amending that description. Rather than representing Independent voters as if they were a faction between the other warring two, I'd say the white in our flag represents common cause. Find that, and we can all work together — perhaps even with a wiggle and a giggle.