I attended a fascinating lecture last Thursday evening at the Arizona State University Tempe campus sponsored by the School of Civic and Economic Thought and Leadership. The guest speakers were former Senators Tom Daschle (D) of South Dakota and Jon Kyle (R) of Arizona, two well respected former political leaders from opposing sides of the aisle who actually get along and worked together when they were in office. Imagine that!
Much of the discussion was about what has changed in American politics and why and what if anything we can do about it. The "what to do about it" part is by far the biggest challenge but these two men were hopeful that through education and citizen activism some things might be accomplished .
When asked what they thought were the things that have lead to this current total disfunction, they had several thoughts. First Mr Daschle said the he thought some Senate and House rules need to be changed requiring members to be present Monday through Friday. He said that so many representatives fly home on Fridays and return Monday evening or even Tuesday leaving only two days to get any work done. Another problem of course is media and social media. They talked about how there are so many pundits out there who spend all of their time stirring the up controversies just to improve their ratings. They also mentioned how much it costs to run a campaign and how legislators have to spend 80% of their time raising money. There was so much more discussed and all of it worth delving into deeper.
One thing that stood out in my mind is the statement that we live in a world where we are bombarded by information from every direction and there is no expectation that any of it is the truth. They said that if telling the truth is not an obligation, than that leaves all of us to try to figure out what is true and what isn't. That's a pretty heavy burden for all of us but one that is simply imperative.
They were both hopeful that more events like this, more classes on civil dialogue and even more citizens getting together to have these types of discussions could help. Me too!
11 comments:
This kind of thing is very good and I'm glad that ASU sponsored it. Did they mention the bombastic fool in the Oval Office who, by his insane rants, gives other people the "right" to do the same? From what I've observed civil dialogue is not possible with him or his followers.
What a wonderful discussion for you and others to hear! Cooperation across the aisle in DC is imperative if we want to get anything done. The enormous cost of campaigns is a huge problem and needs correction if democracy is to continue. Politics has always been a difficult area for everyone involved but significant problems have to be quickly identified and solved because we are losing our basic freedoms and protections. I disagree only with the analysis of the media. It is a challenge to analyse and balance the news we get, but freedom of the press is essential for information,
From the outside it looks like there are many problems that need a solution but how to get agreement seems to be an issue.
It sounds like both have become wise with time.
I have to admit US politics leaves me dumbfounded most of the time Sharon, especially right now.. but I do think the only way to sort it is by communication and conversation.
One can always hope that things will change and better.
Communication and conversation is a good starting point. Things can only improve with conversation, you would think.
It seems there is less and less of the ability to recognize that regardless of the difference in political opinion, that person "across the aisle" is just another human being.
I'm not so sanguine. My experience working with a broad spectrum of the population is that there is a decreasing respect for education in many quarters. And it doesn't seem likely that the barrage of disinformation will decrease. I am a believer in probability and uncertainty, but I don't see a reason to be optimistic about this.
Interesting! Sounds like they made some good points. I hope they're right about opportunities for improvement -- like some of your earlier commenters, I have my doubts!
Must have been an interesting dialog. Personally, I think a core problem is that the partisan candidate selection process requires Democratic candidates to move as far left as they can and forces Republican candidates to move as far right as they can in order to be chosen by the partisans. And, as your speakers said, a huge problem is the expense of campaigns and the need to raise mountains of money. I spoke with a Florida Congressman who left after one term. He said every representative is expected to go to a phone bank every day and work the phones in person for three to four hours a day. Can you imagine! Not working on policy, calling partisans and begging for money. The system is VERY broken.
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