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Authors, sign in!Random thoughts on an afternoon that could become "historic" in a very bad way. . .
What does it mean to be in "leadership" in our media driven, poll-sensitive, "ear-to-the-ground" political version of democracy? Constituency concerns and opinions should always be received, acknowledged and followed whenever the elected leader feels that such advice is sound in view of the nation's overall well-being and health.
But a huge part of leadership involves informing constituencies about "the rest of the story" or the larger picture that comes in the context of national leadership alongside other national, elected leaders. At times, being a leader means going directly against the grain of popular opinion created by ill-informed or inadequately informed constituencies. Voting along ideological lines, especially in a time of national crisis, is worse than foolish. Allowing political concerns and campaign "wisdom" to completely overrun the national good is immoral.
These are hard times.
I know that my very low-income friends will survive.
Here's what may sound like a surprising prediction: If the very worst comes to pass economically, our nation will see how the poor rise to the occasion to care more deeply for all of us than most of us in positions of relative wealth today have cared for those crushed by the weight of a poverty that has made life feel like the Great Depression has been here for a very long time.
Published September 29, 2008 by Larry James |
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| Tags:
Congress
Great Depression
Poverty
Public Policy
Wall Street
