Category: politics

Solving problems

On By Florence TandyIn beliefs, patriotism, politicsLeave a comment

I have several groups of friends that I have little in common with, philosophy-wise. Yet, we always have fun, enjoy each others’ company, and have interesting conversations. I may not agree with all (or even a few) of their political or religious views, but I like them anyway. And I think they like me. I truly believe that if we were all in Congress together, we could come to some sort of agreement about what is best for the country. It may not be exactly as I would want it to be, or exactly what they would want it to be, but it would be reasonable, fair, and future oriented. Probably it would make things better.

In my opinion, members of Congress have been hanging out with their own kind at the exclusion of all the other kinds for so long that they can no longer imagine what others think or feel or need. Maybe they don’t care, but I do not believe that is true. We all want what is best for this country.  Now we just need to get the members of Congress talking with one another honestly, without hidden agendas and gamesmanship, and with the future of our country in mind. Much like my friends and I do. You don’t have to have anything in common with one another to have an impact on the world.

You just need to decide that the impact will be a positive one and that nothing will get in the way.

Twitter: Information Portal or Time Suck?

On By Florence TandyIn politics, random ramblings, social media4 Comments

I’ve been thinking about Twitter.

In case you’ve been under a rock for the last couple of years, Twitter is a social media tool that, according to the company’s website, “connects you to the latest stories, ideas, opinions and news about what you find interesting.” Because anybody and everybody can be on Twitter, and follow the famous, not so famous, and even the fakes, it has become a social media phenom.  It is at once the greatest information portal of all times and the biggest time suck in history.

The recent presidential election set all sorts of Twitter records, including 31 million election-related posts on election day alone.

After the election was called in favor of Barack Obama, Obama’s Tweet,

@BarackObama Four more years. pic.twitter.com/bAJE6Vom

generated more than 717,000 retweets, the most ever. The state by state results were tweeted, retweeted, and commented upon throughout the evening. I can imagine that Romney’s social media team must have been watching the tweets trending for Obama with disbelief and growing sadness as the evening progressed.

We are increasingly getting our news via Twitter. Quite often, when I am reading the paper or watching the evening news (Yes, I still subscribe to a daily newspaper.) I already know some of the details of the news being reported because I have read it on Twitter hours earlier. Through Twitter, I can keep up on the news happening where my two adult children live, where I used to live, and where I live now. I stay informed about the nonprofit world that is so important to my work, about technology, leadership, current events, and my favorite sports teams (GO BIG BLUE!). Where Facebook is a way to share gossipy things, Twitter is less about gossip, and more about news, though the gossip is certainly available for those interested in such things. It’s just that on Facebook, you get  it whether you want it or not. On Twitter you can filter a lot of that out.

Twitter makes us smarter and dumber all at the same time.

There is a LOT of junk on Twitter. I don’t care what Justin Bieber, Taylor Swift, or especially some goofy NLF player is doing or thinking. I don’t want to know about people’s mundane everyday activities, and will quickly unfollow a person if the chatter becomes too trite, too frequent, or of little value.  Full disclosure, I am often compelled to click on pictures from perfect strangers, a voyeuristic trait that I hate about myself. Of course, MY Tweets and photos are all insightful, with never a dull or mundane one in the lot. (Oh, but I wish that last statement were true.)

What is good about Twitter – and dangerous,too – is the familiarity of it all. The common, regular person can easily send a express an opinion, and even have influence on a news outlet, politician, or advocacy group.  We become familiar with the so-called celebrities, and they us And of course, being human, many have posted unwise tweets and paid the price. Twitter should have a button labeled, YOU IDIOT, that warns us before we send an unwise or ill-advised tweet.  I fear, though, that most of us would just ignore the warning and send it anyway.

Have you made the Twitter leap yet?

Where are the statesmen?

On By Florence TandyIn beliefs, leadership, politics, respect1 Comment

This debt crisis thing has the Democrats and Republicans playing a very dangerous game of chicken with our economy and the future of our country. Neither wants to be the first to give in, and both think they can hold out the longest. That does not seem to be very sound thinking, when so much is at stake.

Apparently they have reached a deal, finally. In my experience, an eleventh hour decision is usually full of mistakes. That remains to be seen in this situation, but it does seem to be full of distrust for the other side. How have we descended to such depths!

What happened to civility? What happened to doing the right thing? What happened to compromise?

Where are the statesmen?

In times like these . . .

On By Florence TandyIn beliefs, ethics, leadership, patriotism, politics, poverty, respectLeave a comment

Just like many people around the nation, I am getting fed up with all the negativity, political one-up-manship, and – to use a phrase we have heard a lot this week – vitriol.  We don’t need people from the left blaming the right for the acts of a madman. We don’t need the right inflaming the left by labeling their agenda or leaders as job-killing, anti-American, or socialist.

What we need is a statesman – or several of them. It might seem odd to quote Mikhail Gorbachev in a post about what we need in the U.S. but he summed it up  quite well. He said, ” A statesman does what he believes is best for his country, a politician does what best gets him re-elected.”

We need our political leaders to view the country’s problems according to what is best for its citizens rather than what is best for their party or what is most likely to get them re-elected.  Sometimes leaders have to make unpopular, but wise, decisions that are simply the right thing to do.  Even if it hurts their friends (or contributors). Even if it gives their opponents good fodder for the next election cycle.

We’ve been talking a lot about corporate social responsibility in the last few years, and are doing a much better job of holding businesses responsible for being good citizens. Corporations are talking about being more environmentally friendly, more animal friendly, more socially conscious about the workers. We still need to do better with this, but we’ve come a long way.

Now if we could just get our politicians to do the same. Congress is talking about requiring all bills to have the constitutional reference included.  What about the socially conscious references?  What will their bill do to the health and well being of our citizens, our natural resources, our grandchildren?  And not just their friends, either. They need to be thinking about the people on “the other side of the track,” too.  What about them? Those invisible Americans that have no voice but who need one now more than ever.

Where are all the statesmen?

The more you know

On By Florence TandyIn ethics, intelligence, leadership, politics5 Comments

“The trouble with the world is that the stupid are cocksure and the intelligent are full of doubt.” – Bertrand Russell

Have you ever known someone who was so very dumb, did very dumb things, acted just plain stupid, but yet THOUGHT they were so smart! Come to find out, and my experience bears this out, the dumber someone is, the smarter they think they are. Conversely,  the smarter one is, the less confidence they have in their intelligence.  They’ve even done some scientific studies that prove the point. and it has a name: The Dunning-Kruger Effect. Sufferers have what has been called illusory superiority, where people overestimate their positive qualities and underestimate their negative qualities relative to others. I guess the corollary is illusory inferiority.

What I would have labeled as false modesty for intelligent people, is actually a psychological fact. This has fascinated me since I first heard about Dunning and Kruger’s Cornell University study a decade ago. The theory has many applications beyond simple wisdom and ignorance.  Take ethics, for example.

Ethics and Ignorance

I have recently had a class on Leadership and Ethics through Gonzaga University’s Masters of Organizational Leadership program.  We talked a lot about Kant, various ethical theories, shadow and light – basically what you would expect from an ethics course.  But we also talked about Moral Imagination. I am simplifying, but basically, you have do develop your moral imagination in order to truly understand the ethical decision-making process well enough to make the right decisions. It’s kind of like exercising – but for one’s ethics muscles instead of the biceps. The various ethics theorists agree that ethical orientations develop along a continuum, from very basic understanding of a thing as right or wrong, to quite advanced reasoning and understanding.

And I find it very interesting that a person who is at a lower stage of ethical development cannot understand the reasoning of someone operating at much higher stages (one above and one below is the generally accepted rule of thumb). The same holds true for various stages of cognitive development in adults.  Lawrence Kohlberg came up with a theory of Adult Development, and made the same conclusions. It makes sense. You cannot relate to or understand something if you have not developed the imagination or cognitive experience that will open your mind to understand these different possibilities.

What does all this have to do with anything?  Well, nothing and everything.  If you want to relate to people you are trying to influence, whether it is employees, family members, or politicians, then you are wise to first understand their level of development. From there, you can craft your message to appeal to them at the level of development at which they are functioning, presumably with better results.

Maybe this is what our political leaders need to understand when trying to negotiate for peace. That, and the fact that they may not be as smart as they think they are.

getting stronger . . .

On By Florence TandyIn beliefs, gardening, motherhood, nonprofits, politicsLeave a comment

Greetings!  One of my favorite saying is, “That which does not kill us makes us stronger.” This blog is my attempt to make myself stronger – expland my horizons, get out of my comfort zone.  You see, they tell me I should start blogging.  This is a totally new concept to me, putting my thoughts, rants, ideas, opinions, celebrations out into the world for anyone and everyone to see.  But blogging I will try.  I suppose it won’t kill me.

I will be blogging about the things that are important to me.  The list is fairly diverse:

I’m an avid gardener, and find the stress relief and satisfaction I get from watching things I planted grow, well, satifying.

I am the director of a nonprofit organization, so I am passionate about how this country treats those who are less fortunate. I also have an opinion or two about management, mentoring, community involvement, that I am likely to share from time to time.

Being a mom, I am pretty passionate about my kids, too.

And who knows, a word or two about politics, religion, the environment, travel, entertainment may creep in from time to time.