I’m not one who usually wants to talk about the mythological “good ole days”….I think only in hindsight do they seem better than the lives we live today. Hindsight carries with it no risk, no uncertainty, and our memories tend to gloss over the struggles of the past. But in the world of politics I can’t help but long for an earlier time when politicians treated each other with due respect, when the legislative process’ chief rubric was compromise, the art of holding in balance the things that have worked in the past, and innovating new ways of doing things differently in the midst of a rapidly changing world. The winner-take-all mentality of the current budget debate is disheartening. Back in the day, politicians were called statesmen, which simply meant that their job as an elected official was to serve the greater good of the state, the greater good of all constituents, even the powerless. I remember back in the day that candidates running for student government in Junior High and High School were instructed by their faculty mentors to refer to those against whom they were running as “my worthy opponent.” I’ve not heard that term in years too many to number.
I am reminded as I am often reminded of a phrase coined by the great Mahatma Gandhi: “Our means are our ends in the making.” If our government continues to model the rubric of uncompromising self interest as its highest ideal, then the results of such a process will continue the disenfranchisement of the poor and further erode a once vibrant middle class. …the emergence of an insidious social and economic polarity, the ends of such means… And if our government continues its uncivil means of discourse it will model for the rest of us incivility in our conversations about how we live together in a post modern democracy driven by an increasingly strident self interested capitalism. Because of this phenomenon of incivility, intelligent discourse is less and less likely. Opposing points of view are increasingly polarized rendering compromise a symbol of weakness instead of a means of creativity which has the ability to produce a win-win within the legislative process. We saw it happen with the New Deal, Civil Rights, Welfare reform.
The proper rubric by which we interact as humankind, socially, economically and politically is compassion….compassion: wishing and acting for the wellbeing of all interests; the means being having empathy for the worthy positions of our opponents while feeling strongly about our own points of view; and this delicate balance is nurtured within a milieu of respect, within a process of respect….the means our ends in the making. Through compassion for the whole of the body politic, creative solutions will emerge as they always do when the predisposition is serving not self interest, but the good of the whole. It is a healthy tension, this art of forbearing opposing points of view, that breeds new ideas and possibilities. This is not to say that the vital issues that face us today in our nation and our world are not extremely complex….but compassion is not complex…It is a gospel imperative…It is an imperative in all the religions of the world….It is the means of being…So with all the influence we have call on our leaders to work compassionately for the greater good of the whole…..compromise creatively…and we will see meaningful change for the better…..Oh, for the good ole days.
