“Led by the Nose”
Offered
by Edward Scott Michael,
Ministerial
Intern, February 18, 2007,
at
the Unitarian Society of Ridgewood
“Nixon is thru in ’72.” So
read the slogan on the pen my dad gave me.
My dad was a loyal Union man, and he was handing out pens for the
Electrical Union’s unsuccessful campaign to defeat Richard Nixon.
Four years earlier, June 1968, I was
five years old. For the first time I saw my dad cry. We were standing by railroad tracks near
Chase, Maryland, waiting for the train carrying the slain body of Robert
Kennedy. I didn’t know then who Bobby
Kennedy was, but I knew my dad was sadder than I had ever seen him. For the next twenty years I thought my father
was a big Kennedy supporter, but he wasn’t.
He was just mourning a tragic loss, another death in a season of
killing. He recognized Kennedy was a
great leader, even if he did not agree with his political philosophy. Too many times, when a leader speaks, that
leader dies.[1] Too many times we are left wondering – “What
if…?”
And maybe it is true that we are
susceptible to this cult of personality - the belief that we need a great
leader to move our government and culture in new directions. Indeed this is the belief behind President’s
day – the day we celebrate two leaders, George Washington and Abraham Lincoln –
leaders many claim were founders and sustainers of our nation and its promise
of liberty. Maybe it is truer than I would like to admit.
Maybe we do need great leaders, people of
courage and vision to stand up and take us where we ought to go. History can be read that way.
Consider George Washington, a man of
great complexity. He was ambitious,
stirred by deep emotions, conscious of his power and legacy from an early age. A man not born into High society, Washington did
all he could to gain acceptance into circles of power – as a soldier, as a
businessman, and then by marrying the wealthy Martha Custis.
Yet Washington always remained
suspicious of elites. He detested the
pomposity of the British upper classes even though he admired their lifestyle. He despised unmerited rank and privilege. As General, he refused to promote officers
solely because they came from prominent families, despite strong pressure to do
just that. His closest advisors - Henry
Knox and Nathaniel Greene - he chose based on merit, not pedigree. And at the end of the Revolutionary War, when
he could have easily assumed the mantle of “King,” Washington resigned his military post, assuring the peaceful succession
of civilian rule. For this action, King
George the third of Britain called him - “The Greatest Man in the World.”
Abraham Lincoln is another hailed as
a great leader. Lincoln had a resolve
hard as steel and a gift for saying the most sublime truths using simple
language and compelling images. Here are
words from his Second Inaugural Address:
“With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in
the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work
we are in, to bind up the nation's wounds, to care for him who shall have borne
the battle and for his widow and his orphan, to do all which may achieve and
cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations.”
Lincoln provides an example of the vision that makes a great
leader: Know thyself, know thy foe,
speak plainly and inspire devotion to justice.
This brings me to my present
concern. How can we understand our
current leadership compared to what we have come to admire and expect? Is our current president authoritative like
FDR? Perhaps. Is he plain-spoken and tough like Harry
Truman? I believe so. Yet there are other parallels.
I believe George W. Bush has much in
Common with John F Kennedy.
John F. Kennedy and George W. Bush
were each empowered by a rich father who wanted his son to be president. We heard throughout the 2000 campaign that
George Bush senior had originally been preparing his second son, Jeb, for the
White House. But it fell to his second
choice, eldest son George W. Bush, to fulfill his father’s dreams. Joe Kennedy, Jack’s father, made it no secret
that he wanted his eldest son, Joe Jr., to be president. Sadly Joe Kennedy Junior was killed in WWII. So Joe Kennedy Senior did everything in his
power get his second son, Jack, elected.
Recently declassified reports reveal
disturbing facts about Kennedy. Virtually
every election JFK won his father had a hand in rigging. Whether ballot boxes were stuffed, or
newspaper editors paid off, or candidates with substantial leads lured to drop
out by Father Joe’s deep pockets – Kennedy’s political success was bought and
paid for by his father’s money and not the will of
the people.
And this is where they differ. George W. Bush did not have his elections
bought for him - John F. Kennedy did.
Yet who and how – these are not the
real questions for me. I wonder, - no
matter what we think of Bush and Kennedy – is this how we want to select our
leaders? Should someone be anointed president simply because he or she comes from a
rich and powerful family? I am not
declaring that this is wrong – it may be a reality of
politics – but let’s admit it. But what
does it say about us and our “republic” that we continue to choose our leaders
from circles that grow smaller, creating dynasties?
The tough questions of who should
govern us - and why - get obscured, and politics played like a game - the game
of the horse race, the game of the sound bite, the game of “us versus them,”
the game of “we’ll stick it to them this time.”
This is not a roadmap for good citizenship or effective leadership.
This unreflective anger-filled
competition drove me out of political activism 20 years ago. Too many activists were smug, self-righteous pit
bulls. Their focus on the game distanced
them from concerns of humanity, community and fairness. They ignored the lessons of Martin Luther
King, who always retained his love for his opponents and his belief that he
could awaken their humanity in return.
You see I have this goofy romantic notion that our leaders should challenge us to be
greater than we are, greater than we think we can be. Like the ancient Israelites in today’s
reading there is something either holy or unholy about how we govern or choose
to be governed.
And this reminds me of my brother
Dan, who was here last weekend. Dan is
writing a Rock Opera, a show about justice, transformation and the yearning for
liberty. Dan believes we have a moral
duty to demand and secure our liberty. He
describes it in religious language. “I …
asked God what to do/” one song says, “And
God says, ‘I sent help, that’s why I sent you.’”
That’s why I sent you. We are all called to compose
liberty and midwife justice, to be the change we wish to see in the world. That is why it’s so important to listen to
those we oppose, to walk a mile in their shoes, to forge connections where none
may exist, and to pray for peace with our whole selves. As Thich Nhat Hahn says, if you want peace,
be peaceful. Be
the change you want to see.
Discerning whom to follow seems so
difficult. We often feel led by the
nose. We place our trust in this
politician or that one. We too often
“get fooled again.” But we have no real
alternative – we must stay engaged or risk tyranny. I no longer have those Red, White and Blue
platform shoes, and Nixon was not thru in ’72, yet still I wonder - What makes
a great leader? People lead by example,
by command, by ideas. General George
Washington felt duty-bound to secure an independent United States. Almost by the sheer force of his will General
Washington won a war of attrition and established the first Republic the
Western world witnessed since Roman times, imperfect as that Republic remains. Yes, Washington was a severe, ambitious man. Like many in 1776, he was a slaveholder
demanding to be made free. Yet the words
of the founders were blessedly greater than their examples. And they left us a document – the
Constitution – which has been used to secure more liberties over time,
liberties the founders themselves never intended, but which our moral evolution
has deemed right in the spirit of humanity and the Republic in which we live.
The
words of the Constitution have liberated when supported by people of courage
and vision. Supreme Court Justice Hugo
Black appeared in an unprecedented television interview in 1968, not long after writing the Miranda decision assuring the rights of
suspects in police custody. In
that program Eric Sevareid asked Justice Black, “Some say you have made it
difficult for the courts to obtain convictions.
How would you respond to that?” “It
is not I,” declared Justice Black, “but this,” he said, waving his pocket-sized
Constitution. “The injunction against
illegal search and seizures, the right to not accuse oneself, the right to a
fair and speedy trial, the right against cruel and unusual punishment, innocent
until proven guilty – these are right here in this sacred document. I only do what I can to see these words live
on the streets of America, for every last one of us.”
Justice Black shows how one can lead
using ideas. Yet how do we interpret
those words written down 230 years ago and secure their blessings?
That is where we come in. We are a collection of well-informed and
engaged individuals. We are in
community; we support one another in our search for truth and meaning. We covenant to encounter, discuss, agree and
disagree, remaining in right relationship,
nurturing our bonds of sacred connection.
And in that way we are a model for the world. We are an example of the most lasting and
stable form of leadership – the leadership of an engaged and devoted group of
citizens.
Perhaps one of the best models of
leadership is Rosa Parks during the Montgomery Bus Boycott. The myth is that Rosa Parks decided on
December 1 1955 that she had had enough and refused to go to the back of the
bus. That’s not the whole truth. Rosa Parks was a wise woman who had studied
civil disobedience with Rev King at Miles Orton’s Highlander School, that
famous training ground for Justice in Glen Eagle, Tennessee. Back in Montgomery, organizers from all the
black churches had been meeting to discuss action for months. They chose early December deliberately for
maximum economic impact – both on the buses and on the businesses downtown
during the Christmas season. The women’s
alliances at the black churches were ready to print flyers. The preachers were preaching about
non-violence and civil disobedience. People
with automobiles had been identified to help folks get to work during the
boycott. The Montgomery Bus Boycott was
a community effort with Rosa Parks as the public face. This was a deliberate, calculated, planned
effort requiring an engaged community, sophisticated networking and thorough
training. It was no accident.
One vital aspect of their work was
that their meetings were held at church; the setting reflected the sacredness
of their task. They knew their foes
would be reluctant to storm the churches.
So they held prayer services, where they prayed, and preached, and sang
hymns between planning sessions. They
were reminded every step of the way that social justice action is HOLY work. They held fast to their faith that by
remaining together, united for a transcending sacred purpose, they would be
hard to defeat. And they were correct.
By staying informed, speaking up
when we can, not letting our leaders off the hook, we enter that holy place
where faith and civic duty merge. Our
vigilance insures that our leaders are the best we can find, whether or not
they ride on daddy’s dime. By showing
where we will not go, we tell our leaders where
they must stop. By staying in right
relationship with those we oppose, we learn more about ourselves and become the
change we wish to see.
We are led best by thoughtful
reflection, divining what is right in conversation and openness. We are led best in a spirit of humility,
recalling that justice-making is HOLY work, that we materialize a bit more of
the sacred when we bring justice into the world. We are led best when we nurture our community
of faith that fuels us for the duration of the struggle. We are led best when we listen more than
speak, think more than move, pray more than protest.
So
May it Be
Unison
Closing
“Whatever
we can do, or dream we can do, let us begin it today. Boldness has genius, and power, and magic in
it. May we be bold in our living and in
our loving.”
May
all our blessings bless the world in return, and may the world embrace you in
sweet affection.