Former Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam Adresses Rotary

Rotarian Ed Hurley and RCB President Brenda Hackney with guest speaker Gov. Bill Haslam .

This week the Rotary Club of Birmingham welcomed guest speaker Bill Haslam, former Governor of Tennessee and author of Faithful Presence: The Promise and Peril of Faith in the Public Square.

Haslam discussed the challenges contributing to a contentious political climate in our country, including confirmation bias driven by limited news sources, social media algorithms driven by engagement, the lack of incentive to solve tough problems and the withdrawal of citizens frustrated by the atmosphere. Haslam encouraged audience members to remain engaged citizens, focus on important issues such as education and infrastructure, listen to people with different viewpoints and consult a wider range of news sources.

“How are we going to get out of this environment? I think it starts with folks like us saying, ‘I want to elect people who have actually solved problems.’ ‘I want to elect people who listen to the other side in a fifty-fifty country.’ ‘I want to elect people who focus on the real problems, because we have plenty of real problems.’”