 |
About Woodstock | Programs | Publications | Search |
[Woodstock Report, June 1997, No. 50]
This issue of the Woodstock Report features highlights of an animated panel discussion we sponsored recently on "Civil Discourse and American Politics: Reality and Responsibility."
What originally caught our attention—when we were looking for a topic for this spring forum—was the rising level of personal animus and acrimony in the exchanges between elected officials both in the Congress and the White House. But it became quickly apparent that the issue was far deeper than rhetoric. There is an old Latin saying, Ubi fumus, ibi ignis: "Where there’s smoke, there’s got to be fire!" Or to switch the imagery, when we take our temperature and discover we’ve got a fever, it’s not just body heat that concerns us; it’s the cause, the infection, the malady, that concerns us.
So heated rhetoric was, we suspected, symptomatic of something out of kilter in our body-politic. To uncover the reality beneath the rhetoric, therefore, we invited three experienced and insightful people to propose diagnoses and suggest remedies. Elaine Chao is no stranger to corporate diagnosis and organizational remedy, having been chosen to lead the United Way at a critical point in its history when confusion threatened to overtake public confidence and internal morale. Congressman Ray LaHood of Illinois captured national attention and admiration when he undertook, this past year, to convene, along with Congressman David Skaggs, a retreat for members of the Congress, precisely in order to forge friendships, promote mutual understanding, and build common vision. He has been there; he is doing something about it; and he describes what he knows with refreshing frankness. Thomas Mann, of the Brookings Institution, is one of the most astute and articulate political analysts in the United States today. We already had seen him in action in a symposium Woodstock sponsored last year on welfare reform. Guiding this panel discussion with wit and wisdom is a moderator par excellence, Gordon Peterson of Channel 9 television news. His Saturday night public affairs talk show, Inside Washington, set the standard and was the model for this forum.
Among the many insightful observations our panelists made there was one that leapt out at me: "[S]o much of the political debate is over the public meaning of moral acts . . . . If the personal is political, the political becomes very personal." Thomas Mann said that. Try as one might, there is no separating personal morality from public life and policy. But how should they fit together? That is a question that Woodstock is gearing up to address much more energetically than we have to date. Wish us luck!
Finally, in this issue you will find the letter you may have already received in our annual mail appeal—along with a tear-off sheet. As we come to the end of our fiscal year (June 30, 1997), we are only $32,000 short of our goal for individual gifts. We are trying hard to close the gap! Could you possibly help with the same generosity you have shown in the past?
Be sure of our grateful prayers for a refreshing summer.
James L. Connor, S.J.