I recently listened to Sen. Ben Sasse read his own challenging book, Them. In a discussion of the origins of American democracy, he mentions the following quote from James Madison:
In corporate settings, corporate boards provide oversight to executives who lead teams. Great teams require little directive governance. Great leaders provide vision and perspective, clear away obstacles and make sure that the right conversations happen at the right times with the right people involved. Key conversations involve them personally and their own ideas and behaviors are improved as a result. Sometimes directive leadership is needed or decisions have to be made that can't practically involve the team, but when that happens, great leaders listen carefully and actively solicit opinions of others. And when they do stupid things, healthy organizations gently but firmly move them back onto a better path.
The basic idea that we are better off when we allow and encourage others to help us overcome our individual fallibilities is common to all of these settings and is at the core of Madison's vision, which Sasse is rightly challenging us to re-embrace.
To do that, we have to restore the humility and consideration for others that in our better moments has characterized American culture and political dialogue. Sasse illustrates this with another powerful quote, this one from Judge Learned Hand, given in a speech called "The Spirit of Liberty" in 1944:
Both also understand that governance cannot bring about the change in perspective needed to right sick organizations or societies. That change has to happen in the hearts and minds of people. Political leaders like Sasse can make a difference by setting good examples and I applaud him for writing the book and regularly speaking on what we need to do as a nation to heal; but to "make America great again" we have to all individually become humble again and start really listening to one another.
And that greatness will not be the greatness of a nation with borders and parochial interests, but the greatness of an idea - the idea that all human beings are created equal with inalienable rights. That idea extends beyond any national borders and whatever greatness America ever had lies in our commitment to that idea.
If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary. In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself.The core idea that the human fallibilities that make governance necessary can exist in the governing as well as the governed applies to a lot of other settings too.
In corporate settings, corporate boards provide oversight to executives who lead teams. Great teams require little directive governance. Great leaders provide vision and perspective, clear away obstacles and make sure that the right conversations happen at the right times with the right people involved. Key conversations involve them personally and their own ideas and behaviors are improved as a result. Sometimes directive leadership is needed or decisions have to be made that can't practically involve the team, but when that happens, great leaders listen carefully and actively solicit opinions of others. And when they do stupid things, healthy organizations gently but firmly move them back onto a better path.
The basic idea that we are better off when we allow and encourage others to help us overcome our individual fallibilities is common to all of these settings and is at the core of Madison's vision, which Sasse is rightly challenging us to re-embrace.
To do that, we have to restore the humility and consideration for others that in our better moments has characterized American culture and political dialogue. Sasse illustrates this with another powerful quote, this one from Judge Learned Hand, given in a speech called "The Spirit of Liberty" in 1944:
What do we mean when we say that first of all we seek liberty? I often wonder whether we do not rest our hopes too much upon constitutions, upon laws and upon courts. These are false hopes; believe me, these are false hopes. Liberty lies in the hearts of men and women; when it dies there, no constitution, no law, no court can save it; no constitution, no law, no court can even do much to help it...The spirit of liberty is the spirit which is not too sure that it is right; the spirit of liberty is the spirit which seeks to understand the minds of other men and women; the spirit of liberty is the spirit which weighs their interests alongside its own without bias; the spirit of liberty remembers that not even a sparrow falls to earth unheeded; the spirit of liberty is the spirit of Him who, near two thousand years ago, taught mankind that lesson it has never learned, but has never quite forgotten; that there may be a kingdom where the least shall be heard and considered side by side with the greatest.Hand and Sasse both ground their commitment to humility and service in their religious views, but the idea of liberty, which both see as core to the idea of America, includes a deep commitment to religious freedom and tolerance for religious views different from their own.
Both also understand that governance cannot bring about the change in perspective needed to right sick organizations or societies. That change has to happen in the hearts and minds of people. Political leaders like Sasse can make a difference by setting good examples and I applaud him for writing the book and regularly speaking on what we need to do as a nation to heal; but to "make America great again" we have to all individually become humble again and start really listening to one another.
And that greatness will not be the greatness of a nation with borders and parochial interests, but the greatness of an idea - the idea that all human beings are created equal with inalienable rights. That idea extends beyond any national borders and whatever greatness America ever had lies in our commitment to that idea.