Prince Harry and Lady Markle: this power couple is cute, capable and independent enough to lead a meaningful life on their own apart from the Royal Family. They each have the ability and talent to be a financial success in whatever they wish to do. Markle is already an accomplished actress and beauty. Prince Harry is solid, stable and reserved. He brings honor to the Royal Family.
The family has not held up well, however. There is a spat going on between William and Harry. It is not our business to know the details. It is something between them and we need to leave it alone.
What the Royal Family must do has nothing to do with Harry and Meghan. The Royal demands are weird and controlling. It is healthy for Harry and Meghan to experience life on their own. They are not beholden to the Crown for anything. They can do quite nicely on their own, thank you!
Having said all of that, it is none of my business to write or say anything. The press has meddled enough. They and we should leave it alone.
Tweet as Governing: the occupant of the White House tweets about everything. If he has reporters and microphones available, he talks about everything. He is mostly off script. Although that may be refreshing to some, it makes for awkward moments. Divulging state secrets to inappropriate recipients is one. Slapping people down just because he has the opportunity, makes followup work quite nasty and unproductive. Saying sorry is not enough.
Policy development in governing circles is difficult precisely because it is attempting to speak fairly for the good of most people. Someone will always have their nose out of joint. Wording must be as precise as possible. Action and law relies on these policies. Protocols are crafted to guide implementation of extremely touchy processes. None of this is done well or professionally via tweet.
With tweets, all trust and confidence is lost. Organizational wholeness and collaboration is lost.
Tweet as Foreign Affairs: sharing national policy, opinion and negotiating stance by tweet is foolish. Undercutting foreign affairs professionals in their role of building and maintaining fruitful relationships among nations, destroys the ability of both nations to trust one another. Certainly the agents they work with will be untrusted.
There are so many ways to develop open communications among parties interested in getting along with one another. Tweeting is not one of them.
Trust in Government: I trust government, its intent, role, purpose. I do not trust all people involved in the governing process. Much has happened in recent years to instruct all of us of the frailties of government. Giving up on it, however, is not a practical solution.
History has taught us much about governing success and failure. This is a human enterprise and mistakes will be made. Poor judgment is common in life, and so it will be in government as well. To make progress, however, we must use what is available to govern as well as we can. That requires we trust as much as we can.
Trust is difficult on the federal level, however, because the White House staff has misstated so many facts and opinions that turned out false, that we can hardly believe anything they say at this point. This is especially true of the president.
Congress has had a very poor track record over the past 20 years. They have accomplished very little. They compromise on nearly nothing. They agree on even less. Values, programs, processes in every facet of our national life depends on the work of Congress and our political leaders. Yet we have been let down at nearly every turn.
No doubt this state of affairs is the intended result of a key political strategy and tactic. What the fools didn’t calculate is they wiped out their own credibility along with the general distrust of government.
We need government. This is our government. Not the government of the inmates. Us. The voters.
It is time the nasty rhetoric ends and calm discourse begins. We have work to do. That work is serious. Not doing it has consequences. Poor regulations lead to poisoned water supplies. Poor regulations lead to fatal products sold on the open market. Poor regulations caused the last recession sparked by the near failure of the financial system. Our education system is failing all of us if students do not get the education and personal development they need to succeed in life. That success is not just theirs; it is all of ours. We live in community.
We need to act like we care about that community.
January 14, 2020
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