Richard Nixon and Cat Litter

Individual student leader presentations in my Political Leadership course start Monday.  So this was the last week of topical content.  On Monday Sam Rushay, Supervisory Archivist of the Truman Presidential Library came in and talked about President Truman as a leader.  He also shared with us his unique expertise on President Nixon.  Prior to working at the Truman Library he spent years transcribing the infamous, as well as the less infamous, Nixon White House tapes.  He played the so-called “smoking gun” Watergate tape in class.  Our discussion with Sam brought up such topics as: Why would he ever record himself committing a crime?  How are electronic records saved in today’s White House?  What sort of redeeming qualities did Nixon possess for him to be elected (twice!) to the presidency?

Yesterday we used the power of our whole group to discuss Chris Lowney’s book on Jesuit Leadership.  We broke the book down into sections before class, with two students serving as moderators for the discussion.  In a true exhibition of magis the moderators, Danielle and Caitlin, prepared discussion slides over the entire book on their own accord.  It went fabulously thanks to the efforts of all!  Frank Kane led the class in a reflection at the end of the session:

A better caption might be: Frank and Professor Beverlin's ongoing exchange over the work of Stephen Ambrose has the class riveted.

...Man Caitlin, it looks like you’re in the 5^th hour of REM sleep back there.

Also this past Monday was a symposium on Just War given by Tyler Head, Joel Poindexter, and Professor Curtis Hancock from the philosophy department. 

This got me thinking (I know, uh oh) about the conference Dr. Moran and I attended last week on ethics in the media.  At the conference we heard from foreign policy correspondent Jeremy Scahill, whose most recent work centers on the Obama Administration’s drone war.  If you haven’t read Scahill’s work I encourage you to do so.  He is probably most known for his expose on the private security firm Blackwater (then Xi, now Academi), but has now pivoted to more broad coverage of the Middle East.    

So here’s my thought; which connects to the notion of “we are all leaders all the time” rather than mere pawns in a world led by Thomas Carlyle’s great men.  (Google him; or better yet, don’t).  There have been great leaders who attain their acclaim not through positions of authority or the trappings of high office, but rather through what they actually do and accomplish first. 

 

Here’s a list of five, there are many more: Dorothy Day, Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther King Jr., Father Daniel Berrigan, and Johann Adam Schall Von Bell.  Some famous, some not; but I definitely encourage you to Google them.      

  …and I leave you with Leadership Lessons from Vader (my dog) #3: be nice to everyone.  When Vader goes to the dog park he befriends the big dogs, little dogs, fat dogs, fancy pampered dogs, 3 legged dogs, even the dogs with the choke collars that bite him on the ass. 

#4.  If you are going to violate norms of behavior be discreet.  I don't advocate pulling a Richard Nixon, but it was amazing he freaking tape recorded it.  Vader on the other hand is a master of the clandestine.  I haven't scooped out the cat litter in years.  Years I say!  I probably don't have to spell out what's happening here. He might not understand abstract language, but could have taught Nixon a thing or two about getting away with it.

#5.  Sleep more, worry less.  This one is what we call "self-evident."

#6.  When forming policy, think about the future.  I don't want to sell my dog short here, he always focuses on the children first.  Public policymakers could learn a thing or two from that.

Political lessons from my dog, Part I

Today Dan Rather visited Kansas City as part of the Rockhurst University Leadership Series.  Before his talk downtown, he visited campus and participated in a question and answer with students.

 

Here’s a picture taken after the session:

Photo Credit:  Estuardo Garcia

His exchange with the students was great, as were his more formal remarks.  He named the top four leaders he met in his career: Martin Luther King, Jr., Mother Theresa, Nelson Mandela, and John F. Kennedy.  He also pointed to the top components of successful leadership and living: beauty, truth, love, loyalty, and courage.  He was funny and engaging when he spoke, and attributed much of his success to his wife. 

This all got me thinking?  Without, a multi-decade career in international journalism under my belt, what could I draw on to pass on my wisdom about all things political?  What else, but my dog, Vader.  This is Vader:

So here goes nothing:  “All I need to know about politics I learned from my dog, Part I.”  

Lesson #1.  Don’t accept phonies for the real thing.

Let’s face it, dog food is crap.  We love these little guys we invite into our home, but we serve them up scoop after scoop of bitter smelling lumber mill byproduct.  I even buy IAMS, the good brand!  Nope…still awful.  But my dog eats it without fail because we have an agreement with each other.  Long ago established, we both understand that this is his lot in life if he is to live under my roof.  He doesn’t love it, but he accepts it.  There is a certain honesty in it. 

Sometimes, in twisted acts of empathy, I’ll try to feed him more expensive human food.  Of course, this is stuff nobody else in the family wants.  He sniffs it and walks away.  He won’t touch fast food, mystery nuggets, or processed meat like turkey hot dogs (Really? “low fat turkey links?”).  No wonder I’m shilling it at the dog.  He might even suck down some expired hamburger or old roast beef.  Again, I’m up front with him. I explain to him, “Look, Vader, its expired, but this is the only way you’re getting actual human food.”  But he doesn’t like things breaded, shaped into ovals, squares, or dinosaurs, or elongated into phony hot dogs.

We citizens are like Vader, we don’t want a politician to sell us a bill of goods.  We would rather eat actual hamburger than a substitute steak.  If a lousy policy goes south (Mortgage derivative sales anyone?) we handle it better when public leaders own up to the problem and lead us out of it.  You might remember those terse meetings at the White House between John McCain and Barack Obama.     

If a poor policy action is swept under the rug and called "OK", we get upset.  The great new example of this is the Obamacare website.  So yes, I’m comparing our old healthcare to familiar dog food and Obamacare to mystery nuggets.

Lesson #2.  As elected leaders, fulfill your duties with energy and enthusiasm.  My dog responds to the doorbell like he woke up to open his presents on Christmas morning!  He pops up and sprints to the door no matter who might be there: grandma or the parolees selling pest control products.  He sniffs away while the visitor thinks “I might not like what’s he’s doing down there, but by golly this guy’s got gusto!”

I think leaders such as Teddy Roosevelt, John F. Kennedy, and at least early stage Obama and Reagan grasped that we want to be lead forward by a positively engaged force.  Some failed leaders are like my cat though, sitting around on the DVR all day plotting the dog’s death.  They fall into the trap of forgetting they are in a privileged situation, put there by the people. Nixon, and LBJ with Vietnam, fell into this later in their terms.               

…Ok, I have a night class now, but my next blog entry I’ll pick up here with more political lessons from my dog! 

Celebrate the Fall

Studies have shown that Fall is the best time of year.  I’m not 100% sure of these studies existence, but academics have by now successfully proven everyone’s point of view to be true, so I’m sure they are out there.  Google it.

In Fall, "The King of Seasons" (I'm sure someone has written), the leaves on the trees turn beautiful red and gold colors, KU basketball starts, Royals baseball ends, and because my birthday is October 15, I get cupcake and presents. 

On a professional level, courses have unfolded and like an old shoe have been comfortably settled into.  Maybe an old shoe isn’t the best metaphor for a college course.  How about, a cozy cardigan?

 

Fall Break two years ago I was with the Pikes in upper Michigan chopping down trees.  They told me, before I left, that this was for charity.  During the trip we did charitable things, but we also played Wiffle Ball and laughed a lot. I will long remember the guy who took his kitchen door off so he could shoot deer while he washed his dishes.

Last year over Fall Break I participated in the first Rockhurst Urban Immersion service trip.  It was kind of like a “stay-cation,” but with more housework.  Here’s a photo of the group:

 

I also need to publicize this picture of Paul Hess, now a senior.  He has a built in genetic feature to climb to the tallest place in a room, like a monkey.  I’m not sure if this is to avoid predators or gather food.  Notice someone else taking a picture of him; see, it’s not just me that found this amazing.

This fall break I spent time with my kids.  My oldest son, Alex, was recently diagnosed as having Type I diabetes, so it was great to spend some time with him just goofing around.  Here’s a picture of Alex with his friend Stetson:

Alex is the one on the right.  The boy on the right I mean.  Man I suck at captions.

No matter how you spent your time over this past weekend, I hope you get a chance to do what you love and enjoy the outdoors before the snow starts flying.  Students welcome back and time to dig into those research papers!!!  Happy Fall!

A Different Perspective

As this week begins our government remains shut down.  Washington D.C is in a full on political meltdown regarding Obamacare.  Much like Vietnam and Korea though, this conflict is a disguised proxy war.  

The current partisan fight is a really a small skirmish in a grand primal dispute over big ideas regarding government’s role and taxes.  In a down economy these issues become more important to the middle and lower classes.  The national shutdown has as much to do with healthcare as embargoing Cuba has to do with Havana; its on the wrong side of things but is not the core of the problem.  The issues seem intractable to us Americans, not because of their particular subject matter, but because of the insolent behavior of the politicians involved.  

No wonder that the current job approval rating of Congress, according to an Associated Press Poll ending last week, is at a historical low of:

 5%

5% is a solid interest on a used car, 5% of the population is very well off, 5% is the typical alcohol volume by weight of beer, 5% of the male population is under 5’4” tall, 5% - whichever light one casts it in – is not a good number of people to have liking you.  Because, it means something on the order of 95% of the people dislike you.

We’re disgusted with these people!  Strangely enough, outside of any especially appointed fill-ins, they theoretically all attained office through winning popularity contests.  This a strange irony that might require a couple of doctoral degrees to sort out:  shouldn’t they at least by likable?

I believe that our collective disgust comes from the failure of these high functioning adults (again….that qualifying word ‘theoretically’ comes to mind) to listen to another perspective.  This past week Israeli Ambassador Zion Evrony spent some time at Rockhurst as part of the Visiting Scholar Lecture Series.  He spoke to my Honors American Government class, along with Father Curran; and I had the honor of eating dinner with him before his talk to the community.  I had traveled to Israel this past summer and he was interested in what I thought of his country. 

The Ambassador’s traveled halfway around the world, leaving his usual diplomatic station in Rome, to visit our Kansas City campus.  After his talk, this kind and engaging man was willing to take questions from the large audience.  Some questions were good, but most were little more than thinly disguised, or even undisguised, political statements about the treatment of Palestinians or even Catholics at the hands of Israelis.  Ever the gentleman and the professional, the Ambassador answered all “questions” graciously. 

To me, it was a shame that what could have been a short dialogue was turned into a forum for tired polemics by those wishing to only speak and not listen. 

Until our elected officials learn the value of putting time into listening to the opposition they are like those protestors spouting off into the microphone: marginalizing themselves down to 5% (…maybe we can hit 3%, how low can it go!).   There are times and places for setting forth your opinion on the way the world should be.  Like, I don’t know… a blog.  Or say a political campaign or debate during an election; but not during a budget negotiation.  A dangerously divisive new political reality will be formed if they aren’t going to serve as more responsible elected representatives.