“Every jackass thinks he knows what war is, especially those that have never been in one. We like things nice and simple…good and evil, heroes and villains. And there’s always plenty of both.
Most of the time they are not who we think they are.”
—First line of Flags of our Fathers
Add comment August 19th, 2008
“New ideas that would be instantly rejected in a polarized atmosphere can be thoughtfully examined for merit in an atmosphere of dialogue.”
– Public Conversations Project
Add comment August 2nd, 2008
“History at its best is about telling stories. Stories about people who lived before, about events in the past that create the contours of the present. By studying the lives of others, we hope that we - the living - can learn from their struggles and their triumphs… We have lost the art of letter writing, the discipline of keeping a diary, but as Tim showed, we have not lost the capacity for talking; for sitting around a simple table and conversing - in a civil and illuminating fashion about the most important issues of the day… ”
–Doris Kearns Goodwin, Historian, author of Team of Rivals, as delivered at the memorial service for Tim Russert
Add comment June 18th, 2008
This week it looks like we have our two presidential candidates, a Democrat and a Republican. So, it’s on. That makes this a perfect time to start work on a Village Square election manifesto of sorts. Just how do you participate in a spirited hard-fought race in a civil way? One that will leave America stronger than it found it? How do you fight like founding fathers? Here’s a first go at it…
Country first, party second. While it would seem to go without saying, apparently it doesn’t. We are living in a time when we must reach deep into our souls to remember that we are Americans first.
Allow facts to inform judgement, rather than judgement to cherry-pick fact. Know that the chickens of factual distortion almost always come home to roost eventually. May as well just man-up and accept what’s real right up front.
Give a hearing to both candidates. While it’s OK that your mind may be made up, your willingness to hear out each man will ultimately help us move on constructively no matter who the winner is.
Listen to whole speeches. There will be many speeches of substance in this campaign. There you will find a more cohesive picture of the breadth of the candidate than in sound bytes. Can you validly spend all that time whining if you didn’t hear all of what they had to say?
Know your source of information. Are you listening to opinion or fact, entertainment or information? There’s a big difference.
Lose the venom. Lose the venom-spewers as well, it’s a job that pays far too well these days. It wouldn’t if we didn’t listen.
Anxiously awaiting your brilliant additions…
2 comments June 10th, 2008
From the Center for the Study of the Presidency comes an intelligent and inspirational work, Declaration on Civility and Inclusive Leadership, setting an appropriately high bar for our nation’s leadership. It’s high time we stop being primarily Republicans and Democrats and become (deep breath, this is radical) Americans. As David Abshire and Max Kampelman write:
Civility does not require citizens to give up cherished beliefs or “dilute”
their convictions. Rather, it requires respect, listening, and trust when
interacting with those who hold differing viewpoints. Indeed, civility
and inclusive leadership have often been exercised in the American
experience as a means of moving to higher, common ground and
developing more creative approaches to realize shared aspirations.
Add comment May 28th, 2008
Early on, when The Village Square was just a glimmer in our eyes, I learned a little something about human nature - and something about reptiles - from my priest Father Melvin Gray of St. John’s Episcopal Church.
It seems that, no matter how evolved we humans might be, there’s a bit of reptile in all of us.
That comes from neuroscientist Dr. Paul McLean’s Triune Brain Theory which posits, more or less, that our complex human brain capable of rational thought is built on the chassis of a lizard brain.
According to McLean, it is the instinctual and reactive part of our brains (the brain stem and cerebellum), simply capable of reacting, not of thought. The second level of our triune brain is the mammalian brain (the hypothalamus, hippocampus and amygdale) which is capable of caring, playfulness, communication, relationships. Think your cat and dog.
And then there is the cortex and neo-cortex, our human brain, which gives us the capability of problem-solving, philosophical thought, leadership, etc.
McLean’s theory views the connection of the human and reptile brains as similar to a driver training car with two sets of controls. Normally, it’s the human brain at the wheel, but when anxiety gets high, the lizard brain jumps on in, all the while the driver thinking their rational brain is still in control.
Lizard brains can be a good thing when used at the right time. Good reads like Blink by Malcolm Gladwell and The Gift of Fear by Gavin De Becker argue effectively why our snap reptilian judgments can be very accurate in certain circumstances, for instance in assessing danger.
Other times, our human brain should be up to bat, say, when we vote?
Stay tuned for “Of Lizards and Humans, Part Deux” where I’ll develop this idea a bit to ’splain where we find ourselves right about now.
Add comment January 16th, 2008
Here’s a clip from a conversation on Friday night’s Real Time with Bill Maher:
Tony Snow (former Bush press secretary): “The level of personalizing in politics has gotten to the point where it’s really silly.”
Mark Cuban (owner of the Dallas Mavericks): “..Ultra-partisanship is one of the biggest problems this country has, because everyone wants to take sides and if you’re not on my side, you’re the enemy… ”
Tony Snow: “… The fact is you can disagree with people vehemently and you don’t have to think they’re going to hell because they disagree with you and they don’t have to think you’re going to hell because you disagree with them…
It’s interesting, they’re a lot tougher on you by email.”
Add comment January 14th, 2008
Former U.S. Senators Sam Nunn of Georgia and David Boren of Oklahoma have invited a bipartisan group of national leaders to meet on January 7 to discuss how to “stimulate a meaningful debate during the current presidential campaign on the important challenges facing our nation.” (Quote from Atlanta Journal Constitution.) Here is a portion of their letter, sent to (among others) former U.S. Senator Bob Graham, NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg, former N.J. Governor Christie Todd Whitman, former Ambassador John Danforth and Senator Chuck Hagel:
“Our political system is, at the least, badly bent and many are concluding that it is broken at a time where America must lead boldly at home and abroad. Partisan polarization is preventing us from uniting to meet the challenges that we must face if we are to prevent further erosion of America’s power of leadership and example.
. . . To say the obvious, the presidential debates thus far have produced little national discussion of these and other fundamental issues and plans to address them. If this pattern continues through this important national election, it will produce neither a national consensus for governing nor a president who can successfully tackle these threats to our nation’s future. We understand the rough and tumble part of the political process, but without a modicum of civility and respect in our debates, forming a bipartisan consensus on the major issues after the election will be virtually impossible.”
Whether or not this meeting produces a third party candidacy (and whether or not you think that’s a good idea), it’s hard to disagree with their opening volley.
6 comments December 30th, 2007
“We describe ourselves very proudly as a democracy. The preamble of the constitution, which I think is a wonderful preamble. I think we ought to think about it almost literally everyday and ask, well, to what extent is government organized to realize the noble visions of the preamble. The preamble begins “We The People” it’s a notion of a people who can engage in self-determination.
What I have discovered is a real fear of popular government. I think that for a variety of reasons having to do with the nature of politics in recent years, there is this incredible mistrust of people who don’t share your views, and you think that they’re out in some ways to wreck the country. . .
If you actually talk to Americans in their own homes in their own workplaces, it’s not that everybody agrees, but they aren’t so polarized as our current political system is. And there really is the opportunity to create a more democratic politics but I think frankly ,and somewhat sadly, more and more people are losing that faith in popular government.”
- Sanford Levinson on PBS’s Bill Moyers’ Journal
Add comment December 22nd, 2007
The following was forwarded on to me by one of my favorite conservatives, Bill Spann, who challenges all of his liberal friends “to join in a spirited and good-natured debate on this pressing and timely issue.” (Editor’s note: I made one small edit to Bill’s forward, find it in red.)
Oh, and first Dem who gets me an equally clever (and civil) greeting to his REPUBLIC friends gets posted. . .
TO ALL MY DEMOCRATIC FRIENDS:
Please accept with no obligation, implied or implicit, my best wishes for an environmentally conscious, socially responsible, low-stress, non-addictive, gender-neutral celebration of the winter solstice holiday, practiced within the most enjoyable traditions of the religious persuasion of your choice, or secular practices of your choice, with respect for the religious/secular persuasion and/or traditions of others, or their choice not to practice religious or secular traditions at all.
I also wish you a fiscally successful, personally fulfilling and medically uncomplicated recognition of the onset of the generally accepted calendar year 2008, but not without due respect for the calendars of choice of other cultures whose contributions to society have helped make America great. Not to imply that America is necessarily greater than any other country nor the only America in the Western Hemisphere. Also, this wish is made without regard to the race, creed, color, age, physical ability, religious faith or sexual preference of the wishee. Have a Happy Non-Denomination Winter Holiday.
TO ALL MY REPUBLICAN FRIENDS:
I wish you a Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year.
5 comments December 20th, 2007
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