Reagan’s Real Legacy

As Prepared for Delivery to the Leadership Program of the Rockies—March 11, 2011—Aurora, Colorado

I want to talk about how we use our conservative principles; what we do with this quiver full of arrows in the ongoing battle between freedom and dependency.

But to do this, you’ll have to travel back with me to September 13, 1993.  Specifically, to a high school classroom in the middle of social studies class. 

I remember being wide-eyed with excitement that day when they rolled in one of those gigantic old widescreen TVs.  Miracle of miracles, we were going to watch television in class!  And while my burgeoning dreams of ‘The Price Is Right’ weren’t quite realized, the image of what we did watch that day has stuck with me a whole lot longer.  It was the signing of the Israeli-Palestinian Peace Accords.

Now I don’t know how much you remember about this event.  It took place on the South Lawn of the White House on a picturesque September day.  Yasser Arafat was there for the Palestinians, bounding around with a Cheshire cat grin on his face.  Yitzhak Rabin, on behalf of the Israelis, looked much less excited to be there.  And when it finally came time to sign the agreement, there was Bill Clinton, arms outstretched, trying to broker an awkward handshake.

As I watched from my seat in that classroom, that handshake fascinated me.  On such a momentous and historic day, war-weary Prime Minister Rabin looked like he had just swallowed his shoe.  I couldn’t help but wonder what was going through his mind as he looked down at Yasser Arafat’s outstretched arm and reluctantly agreed to shake.

Well, being young and naïve in the ways of the world, I figured I should ask.  I went home that night and penned a letter to Prime Minister Rabin and sent it off with the confidence that only a fifteen year old could have that it would receive a response.  Miraculously, five months later, that confidence was rewarded with a letter directly from the Prime Minister.  It said, in part:

 “I knew that the hand outstretched to me from the far side of the podium was the same hand that held the knife, that held the gun, the hand that gave the order to shoot, to kill innocent civilians.  Of all the hands in the world, it was not the hand that I wanted to or dreamed of touching.  But, it was not Yitzhak Rabin, the private citizen, on that podium. 

I would have liked to sign a peace agreement with Holland, or Luxembourg, or New Zealand.  But there was no need to.  That is why, on that podium, on that world stage, I stood as the representative of a nation, as the emissary of a state that is willing to give   peace a chance.  One does not make peace with one’s friends.  One makes peace with one’s enemies.”

That last, powerful line—‘one does not make peace with one’s friends, one makes peace with one’s enemies’—has been on my heart a lot lately when it comes to our country.

Prime Minister Rabin got at the heart of one of our most natural tendencies.  We’re all human animals.  We congregate with those like us.  We’re drawn to those who share our background or interests.  We tend to talk mostly to those who agree with us.

In the perpetual tug-of-war that is politics, we gather our allies, pick up the rope and start pulling—never bothering to look beyond our tribe.  And while this tendency may generate some temporary wins, and will certainly expend a lot of energy in the process, heaven help us if we ever put that rope down for even a second!

We make peace with our friends.

This is a great model for a sore back, for instability, for disaffection with government, for the sort of red/blue divide which gets so much play in the press.  But it’s hardly a good model for achieving enduring change.

To create real change, to be transformative leaders, we need to engage our skeptics.  We need to embrace those unlike us.  To meet people where they are and help them to navigate the path to where they need to be.   

You see, there’s a reason that America continues to celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. today, instead of Malcolm X or Jesse Jackson.  And, surprisingly enough, it’s the same reason that Ronald Reagan’s legacy will endure far beyond those of Bill Clinton or Richard Nixon: they changed the game.  They engaged their skeptics.  They went to those on the other side of that rope and not only convinced them to lay down their arms, but at the same time persuaded them to change sides and start pulling in the opposite direction.

They made peace with their enemies.  And that’s a lesson we could all take to heart these days.

To The Coming GOP Majority: ‘It’s Results, Stupid!’

As a refugee from the Republican Congress of the Bush years, I find myself both excited and nervous at the prospect of our party retaking control on Capitol Hill. Excited because the opportunity to change the trajectory of our country is tremendous, though nervous because I’m not quite sure Republicans in Congress realize just how much politics in America has changed during their four year stint in the minority.

First things first, let us not overestimate our mandate—in many cases, voters only let the GOP back ‘on the field’ this November in order to make room in the penalty box for the Democrats.  Remember, barely 1 in 4 Americans approve of the job that the Republican congressional leaders have done.  And while their official strategy of “no” may have worked in the short term, it has likely turned American politics into an elaborate version of the game tic-tac-toe—a back and forth stalemate that is relatively easy not to lose, though equally difficult to win.   

Gone are the days when a party could rely on marketing (“compassionate conservatism”), ideology (“smaller government”) or wedge issues (gay marriage) to draw supporters to their side in a battle.  While the average American was willing to give President Obama’s vision of a post-partisan America a chance, many now find themselves profoundly disillusioned with ‘government by TelePrompTer’—and they’re cracking down.    

As President Bush himself once said, “Fool me once, shame on you.  Fool me twice…you can’t get fooled again.”

Over the last two years, voters have discontinued their policy of handing out trophies just for showing up.  A toothy grin and ‘smaller government’ sound bites don’t go as far as they used to these days.

In this down economy, voters who once voted their aspirations are increasingly voting their frustrations.  Burned by the unfulfilled hope of the Obama campaign, angry Americans have become distrustful of well-spoken “professional” politicians, and have instead chosen unpolished amateur Tea Partiers by the handful this year—witchcraft rumors be damned!  More and more frequently, we are discounting marketing and disregarding ideology—impatient for anything but results. 

So as they prepare to retake the reins of government, I just want to make sure that my former Republican colleagues in Washington realize one thing—they can’t just appear to be doing things differently this time around…they actually have to change their ways.

The next sustainable governing coalition won’t be formed along ideological or even partisan lines, but rather around those policies that can best address the biggest public sector challenge of our time—how to make government show value to people.  And in this ‘space race’ of our age, Americans are increasingly looking towards public leaders who will simply shut up and get to work.

This means rolling up your sleeves and putting away amorphous talk of ‘family values’ in favor of practical approaches that actually begin to address the root causes of family breakdown in America today. 

This means fewer vows to stop ‘spending like drunken sailors,’ and more practical proposals that take politicians out of an earmark system that has them writing multimillion dollar checks for projects of dubious public benefit that they’re in no position to understand or oversee. 

This means no more tinkering at the edges while kicking the difficult questions down the road.  Budgets that are balanced ‘on paper’ but ignore the looming crisis posed by out-of-control entitlement costs aren’t worth the paper they’re written on. 

And most of all, this means having the courage to pursue and implement the “right” answers, rather than just the politically expedient ones—courage that I know from experience is lacking on Capitol Hill.

America no longer enjoys the head start we once had in the aftermath of WWII.  Globalization has shrunk our world and leveled its playing field.  We can no longer afford the sort of sub-optimal policymaking that has been the hallmark of the American Congress over the last 50+ years.  All of those incumbent-protecting votes in favor of a few million dollars here and a few billion dollars there have caught up to us.  In order to stop the erosion of America’s competitive advantage globally, American lawmakers must join their private sector counterparts in stepping up their game. 

Back in 2007, presidential candidate Mitt Romney told the Wall Street Journal that, if elected, he would likely hire management consultants McKinsey & Co. to help him make America’s public sector more efficient and effective.  While Romney took some heat for this attempt to ‘outsource’ government capacity, Republican leaders would be wise to follow the intent of his statement.  In this age of impatience and skepticism, unleashing a team of problem solvers and taking a solutions-oriented approach to governance—even when it dictates difficult political moves in the short run—is the right answer to creating an enduring political coalition in the long run. 

Or, to (badly) paraphrase Clinton guru James Carville: “It’s the results, stupid!”

American history bears the fingerprints of great leaders, shaped by the spirit of their times, who possessed the insight and direction necessary to steer us safely through rough waters.  Today, we need such leaders more than ever; leaders whose allegiance to country is greater than their allegiance to incumbency.  We need leaders firmly rooted in ideas, solutions and results.

As Republicans prepare to once again take control in Washington, our opportunity to profoundly shape the next American Century is here…let’s hope the leadership is too.