"May you live in interesting times" is commonly
attributed to a traditional Chinese proverb. While seemingly a blessing, the
expression is normally used ironically in that “uninteresting” times is
generally a preferred situation for most people. Regardless of one’s political
persuasion, I think we can all agree that we are definitely living in
interesting times. What I want to comment on, however, is not the latest news
(fake or otherwise) coming out of the Nation’s Capital (or, indeed, any State
Capital) but, rather, the unintended consequences of the shouting,
finger-pointing and “holier than thou” attitudes which increasingly
characterize conversations in the public square. The recent partial shutdown of
the Federal Government is a case in point. Including the one just ended, each
of the last four government shutdowns occurred because of ideological
challenges that had nothing to do with the issue at hand: enacting a continuing
resolution to fund the government until Congress is ready to approve the annual
budget. We teach our students that a continuing resolution is a simple tool
designed to continue last fiscal year’s authorized spending patterns until
disagreements surrounding next year’s budget can be resolved. So, they ask “Why
is new stuff put in that doesn’t have anything to do with the continuing
resolution?”
Good question.
With this most recent shutdown,
both political parties are guilty as charged with “putting stuff in” that
shouldn’t be there. The answer, of course, is complicated – beginning with the
tired meme “playing to their base” – which while tired, is generally the first
problem with this dysfunctional method of funding the Federal Government. The
Democrats were “playing to their base” by insisting on addressing immigration
issues. During the Obama Administration, a 15 day shutdown was driven by the
Republicans desire to limit – or eliminate – the Affordable Care Act. Neither
objective should have ever seen the light of day in a continuing resolution. So
why do our political parties pursue this strategy? Because (in my opinion),
they have lost the ability to manage the art of compromise. One could make the
argument that the need to pass a continuing resolution is a function of the
failure to compromise with respect to the approval of a full budget. In the
words of Country Music Singer, Kenny Rogers,
“you have to know when to hold ‘em and know
when to fold ‘em.”
By playing to their bases, our
political parties inherently understand that they can’t risk “folding their
cards” and angering their base. Compromise is the victim of this short-sided
approach. Recently elected Red state (Alabama) Democratic Senator Doug Jones
observed that this approach robs the Senate of its most vaunted characteristic
as the world’s greatest deliberative body (1a:
the act of thinking about or discussing something and deciding carefully: the
act of deliberating).
So why comment on this now?
Because, as with so many other national, political, social and cultural issues,
when our students see social and political dysfunction on television (and
increasingly) on Social Media; they are inherently absorbing lessons which are
antithetical to the values we seek to promote at school and which you seek to
promote at the dinner table. As I’ve commented in this space before: if
everyone is shouting, no one is listening. What makes matters worse is the
plummeting rates of voter participation in local, state and national elections.
When our students witness gridlock in Washington, even the most compelling
civics lesson taught by the most charismatic teacher isn’t going to counteract
their perception that things are broken, and their inevitable conclusion that
elections can’t – or won’t – fix them.
We want our students to listen to
each other, their teachers and parents. We want them to respect positions with
which they don’t agree and, most importantly, in a world touched by Original
Sin, we want them to learn the art of compromise. As a Catholic school, we
emphasize that perfection is to be found in Heaven and not on earth. Compromise
is the only strategy capable of moving any issue, project or cause closer to
perfection. After 30 years as a Catholic school administrator, I know that La
Salle is the best school I’ve ever had the privilege to lead. I also know it
isn’t perfect and that, without the art of compromise, it will not become even
better than it now is. I want our young people to appreciate the art of
compromise when it comes time for them to assume leadership roles in business,
social institutions or politics. That hope can’t be realized without willing
partnerships beyond home and school. However, I don’t see us returning to
“uninteresting times” in the near future.
Maybe we should turn the TV off for
a while
