Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Exuberant, Irrational Politics and the Need for Change

Exuberant, Irrational Politics and the Need for Change
By: Rene Velez Mar 30th, 2010


I can’t help but notice the aftershock of healthcare reform in the United States. By far not what I would call a sweeping piece of legislation, but nonetheless a piece of legislative history that will, if it endures, have a profound effect on politics and the overall American experience. If the overall implications of this healthcare bill is not enough to stimulate your intellect then the aftershock of the republican party and pundits alike should provide for lively exuberant entertainment.

The Consequence of Change

For the better part of my professional career I was a self described change agent. All too often I found myself working in companies that graduated in the level of sophistication that dictated that the modus operandi had to change in order to allow the corporate goals to come into fruition. So it was that I had to learn not only to work with the leadership of different departments but clearly I found myself in the cross hairs of opposing leadership within companies that refused to change their ways. In all I have to say I was very successful early on only because I managed somehow to understand the other side, to concede on some points and to find a common ground. On the other hand I did work for a company that hired me specifically to bring about change only to be held in contempt by the very management/owners that wanted me to promote change. A very weird event that I have not forgotten to this day simply because there was no overcoming that. (This was a Brutus moment in my career.). The entrenchment was far too deep and the conditions were hostile enough that I had to leave that employment. But, this is very much a consequence of change. To the extent that healthcare reform has created such opposing partisanship is not just a sign of bad politics; as it is very much bad and ill willed politics. It is also a sign of fear that can be very destructive. Human beings fear change and the unknown. Don’t underestimate that ever! What is alarming is that high level individuals have taken such roughshod defiance of such a basic premise such as affordable and available healthcare for all. The divide among political parties on this issue should not be as wide and as opposed as what has been portrayed in the media. In fact it, in essence it is not. And yet the irrational posturing of the Republican party and the politics employed truly are a scar on that political party. The unwilling posture of a party that has been in power and who gave away tax dollars to the mega rich and to major corporations and then turned their backs on the very American people who needed a basic of basic reforms is practically unforgivable. But the reality is, this is part of the cycle of change. And we should be prepared as a society to see much more of this as we have many other large scale reforms that need to take place in order to put our house in order.


The Cycle of Change

Change often does not come in full doses. Especially not life altering change such as what we need in healthcare reform, energy policy, financial industry reform, immigration reform, election reform etc. etc. You have to look at it this way. If you have ever tried to loose weight, you don’t just stop eating. Typically, you also can not just take up marathon physical exercise less, you injure yourself. Sometimes change is best accomplished gradually. You walk before you take up running. You make better eating choices. In engineering change, you build consensus, you get the population to buy into your program. You make concessions and you even learn from the opposition in order to make your case for change stronger. The key of course is to have dialogue and to have interested and motivated parties that have an interest in bringing about better alternatives. But I must confess, that even in the best of circumstances, at least in my experience there are detractors and spoilers and saboteurs. People who simply are incapable of seeing the brighter side are detractors. Constantly focusing on the negative instead of the positive. People who rather than conform to the plan of change try to overpower you simply to gain influence by substituting the agreed plan with their own version and claiming credit for the better mouse trap. And then of course their are saboteurs. People intent on throwing the monkey wrench into the system just to make you work harder and exhaust the human capital that makes change possible. Seems to me the Republicans are making big mistakes in their political approach to being part of the process of the obvious need for change on various fronts. I have to emphasize that no plan for change is ever perfect. It has to be worked on. The healthcare bill leaves an enormous hole in cost containment and perhaps even in how to pay for it. It also fails to control medical malpractice. Despite these significant weaknesses we needed to get the bill passed and yet we need to understand that we need to continue on the path or cycle of healthcare reform and not give into the detractors, spoilers and saboteurs that are part of the cycle of change.

A Lesson from Prior Conflicts

This great nation has seen great change over its young history. For example, the revolution, the civil war, abolition, civil rights movements. All of these events had the effect of creating sweeping change to our way of life. There were real struggles, a great deal of fighting, there were detractors, spoilers and saboteurs in all of these great struggles that form part of the American experience. Sadly, there was also violence. There was bloodshed, murder and hysteria that at times was at the national level. Can we learn from these past struggles and avoid the violence. I certainly wish we could. I wonder if we have evolved far enough to avoid any form of loss of life. I don’t think we are there yet. Perhaps the one struggle we never seem to learn is to avoid the violence. This may be the biggest change that faces not only America but the world as a whole. Wouldn’t it be monumental if in the years to come we “America” can address all the major reforms we must make and not loose a single life in doing so? This may well be beyond what can be expected but still we need to try. We must learn that we can bring about change, we can argue, we can take sides but we must not loose focus of the greater good and not give into the concept of winning the battle and losing the war.