The New York Times (on Sunday, December 5) had two articles on the same page that, together, get to the essence of the mess America is in. One of the articles is by the respected economist at the Brookings Institution, Henry Aaron. Aaron recommends long-term comprehensive policies that he believes will get our budget deficits down and that will bring costs of social security, Medicare, and Medicaid down to sustainable levels. The other article, by Maureen Dowd, is about the controversy over gays in the military; the article quotes General George Casey as saying, in response to a question, that "... the military is not a democracy". Casey was rebutting a suggestion that rank-and-file military people should be asked their preferences as to policies regarding gays.
We all can agree, I think, that we need long-term and comprehensive policies and, while we might not agree on the specifics of Henry Aaron's proposals, I think we can agree that he is reaching in a useful direction. Having said that, however, I see no evidence that our political/bureaucratic system as it now operates is capable of doing much more than playing the game of who's in, who's out. Our democracy is not working.
General Casey is no doubt correct: military organizations are not democracies -- and are not intended to be democracies. They are bureaucracies. And military forces are not by any means the only government organizations that are not intended to be democracies: we would not want, let's say, Social Security employees to decide who should get what in the way of pensions.
Our problem, as I see it, is not that bureaucracies are bad; our problem is that we are allowing political/bureaucratic systems to do things that they are ill-equipped to do. The specific systems problem that I have deplored for many years is that we are allowing bureaucracies in Washingto n and state capitals to control how and what children learn. It is patently foolish to believe that people in far away places who do not know the children or their circumstances can know more about a child than do those of us who know and love the children as precious humans. And, yet, we keep on allowing bureaucracies to dominate children and their teachers.
Henry Aaron and General Casey heip to remind me that the issue facing us is broader than schools -- much broader. Historians tell us that empires go into decline when the government hierarchies serve themselves at the expense of the public. Some very smart people believe that America is in decline; and, according to polls a substantial majority of the public agrees. If those people are correct -- if our children and grandchildren do in fact face a bleak future, the reason is that we are allowing bureaucracy to prevail over democracy. People sitting on pedestals looking down at mere citizens are serving themselves, economically, politically, educationally, and otherwise.
The stakes are big, perhaps as big as any our nation has faced in its history. I believe that's good: the high stakes mean that none of us can justify sitting back and allowing ourselves to be run over. We can't allow our economic system to be designed by a self-serving political/bureaucratic system. We can't allow our responsibilities to each other to be defined by people sitting on pedestals in capital cities. We can't allow our political system to be controlled by money instead of by citizens. And, as one of America's 70 million grandparents, I say emphatically that we can't allow the foolishly arrogant notion that "experts" in far away places have more to offer the children than we do.
My basic message here to those who share my interest in children's learning is that we're not alone. We stand with everybody who cares about the future of our society.
We need to keep in mind that "movements" can be better adapted to accomplishing the task before us than are organizations. (It is, as we all know, very easy for organizations to take on self-serving bureaucratic characteristics.) I have mentioned in earlier posts that the Scots-Irish legacy of self-reliance can be a significant source of movement strength, especially in "working class" sections of the country. Another source of movement strength -- I've only recently learned about this (to my chagrin) -- is The Children and Nature Network, which is encouraging connecting children with nature. Also, I'm more convinced than ever that partnerships between young people and us elders can be of just about unlimited value.
The political/bureaucratic forces that, if unchecked, would take our nation down, will have "divide and conquer" as a strategy -- they will try to pit groups of citizens against each other. But that doesn't have to work -- and it won't work if we -- We the People -- remember that we'll be just fine if we keep clearly in mind that we're in this fight together.
I'll be reporting some of the movements that can help us come together.
Bob Cornett
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