Systems thinking, politics vs. government LO9303

Ben Compton (BCOMPTON@novell.com)
Wed, 21 Aug 1996 09:44:33 -0600

Replying to LO9285 --

I like Jeff's comments about rethinking our political processes,
especially the role of the press & the electorate. What changes would
you make, Jeff?

As far as the political process and LO's. . .

In 1992 I was the press secretary for a candidate (whose name will
remain safely anonymous). One night we had the campaign strategy
meeting on the phone, as we were all in different states. Included in this
conversation was the campaign chairman, the chief strategist, myself,
and the candidate.

The conversation moved toward an issue people wanted the candidate
to address, but which the candidate thought was irrelevant to the bigger
picture and the long-term success of our country. The people, it
seemed, didn't care that the issue wasn't that important. They wanted a
position statement and a campaign promise. . .and they wanted it now!

In the course of the conversation one of the men said, in essence, "tell
the people what they want to hear. Once your elected, do what you
want. People will forget the promise, especially since we'll have to deal
with a thousand more issues over the next four years."

Eeek! I about shot through the roof! I quickly informed the campaign that
I had _NO_ intention of going on Radio Talk Shows and TV interviews
and promote a promise the candidate had no intention of keeping. I
viewed it as very deceptive. We argued the issue for about an hour.
Three days later I resigned.

There's a couple of issues here, which is common in politics, and which
prevents politics from becoming a legitimate "learning" process.

1) The average person gets worked up over insignificant issues. . .but,
issues which they feel need immediate attention. This is a very
near-term view, and totally disregards the underlying forces that will
create a better future. This puts a lot of heat on political candidates.

2) The purpose of a political campaign is to win. Those men and women
who seek public office have tremendous drive and ambition. They
respond to the clamoring of the people, by making promises they don't
intend to keep. How else, they reason, can I get the time and latitude I
need to focus on the larger, more important issues?

And so we see a world where campaign promises are made, violated,
made again, and violated once more. I think this process is what
George Stephanopolous meant when he said "President Clinton kept all
the campaign promises he meant to keep." (Please, do not read I'm a
Clinton supporter. . .)

As a participant in the political process I can see a real need for the
American public to become more systemic in their thinking. And, I can
see the need for political candidates to understand the forces at work,
and why they so quickly make promises they don't intend to keep.
Legitimate dialogue between the candidates and the people would be a
good starting point. Unfortunately everyone involved in the political
process feels so strongly about their views that it is difficult to get a
"flow of meaning."

-- 

Benjamin B. Compton ("Ben") | email: bcompton@novell.com Novell, GroupWare Support Quality Manager | fax: (801) 222-6991

Learning-org -- An Internet Dialog on Learning Organizations For info: <rkarash@karash.com> -or- <http://world.std.com/~lo/>