Sep
1
2012
The Search for the Soul of a Nation
Author: Gary HartPolitics isn’t everything. For many people it isn’t anything, or it is something to avoid at all cost. For me it has been a way, an avenue, for giving back for all I have received, for trying to help make “things”, the country, the world, a slightly better and safer place for my children and the future. It has simply been a vehicle for public service and, I suppose, a way to justify my existence.
Because people are drawn to politics for reasons of power or belief, its worst characteristics are conflict, bitterness, distrust, antagonism, even hatred. That’s what causes many people to steer well away. After having my own idealism tested in about every way possible, I’ve come not to care about politics very much. I still believe as strongly as before that the Democratic party, at its best, is the best option for achieving social justice, equality, fairness, and care for those left out. It is not always at its best.
To achieve these lofty goals and ideals, it must also be the party of creativity, invention, and transformation. And it is in the last few decades that the Democratic Party has fallen short. In the absence of imagination, new policies to achieve traditional objectives, and an experimental approach to an age of transformation, it has too often retreated into a protective, even defensive, crouch in response to the unrelenting forces of laissez faire.
Having done about all I can do, through office-holding and office-seeking, and then writing books and articles and speaking, it is time to move on. Somewhere. There are still some transformative ideas in public finance and priorities (the “economy”), in America’s role in the world (foreign policy), and military reform (defense) that I would like to see given a chance. But waiting for the phone to ring is not for anyone with dignity.
All this philosophizing, from a college philosophy major, is prompted by age and most recently by the book Why Does the World Exist? by Jim Holt. It wonderfully took me back to the world of profound thought but also forward to what I hope might be some new way of making a social contribution beyond politics. Who knows. Only a few fellow seekers might care.
We all have a soul of some sort, I believe. Whatever that is connects us to the spiritual world. We have to be true to it or we lose our way, our identity, our integrity, our reason for existence, in other words our soul. When the chips are down, and they’re almost all down after seven and a half very fast decades, cultivation of the soul is more important than politics and power.
I even believe there is something like a human soul that unites us all, way over and above politics. At its rare best America has shown a kind of national soul, where we united and pulled together, and helped one another, and got along.
I pray that day will come again.
September 2nd, 2012 at 11:37 am
For those of us who admire the long time-efforts and contributions of Senator Hart, this post is bitter sweet, for it is a vivid reminder of what he brought to the political arena and how very different he was from so many of his political contemporaries. As fine a political strategist as he was, his every effort reflected a commitment to government, not as a vehicle for grabbing and exercising power, but as one capable of helping make life better, richer, and more fulfilling. He was, and is, a true devotee of Thomas Jefferson, who had the audacity to substitute “the pursuit of happiness” for “property” in John Locke’s famous statement about the purpose of government. Indeed, Senator Hart’s reflections on our soul and the value of our lives are not late in life ruminations, but spring from a lifetime commitment to service and continue a pattern that is familiar to all of us who have followed his career. Indeed, they are central to the work and the writing he has done since leaving office, and they offer telling lessons for future generations. While I would not presume to read the Senator’s mind, and while his continuing desire to contribute to the betterment of our society is evident, it is clear that the changed political landscape distresses him deeply, and I cannot help but wonder if he is not in fact relieved to no longer be a part of a political world in which attention to the issues about which he cares so much are all too often sublimated to fundraising and superficial photo-ops. And yet the ideas he has to share are resources that we as a society cannot afford to waste. Senator Hart has done his time and has served in ways that deserve nothing but gratitude. The real and ongoing challenge is for those of us who share his commitment to do all we can to spread his ideas, mirror his commitment, and expand his legacy.
September 3rd, 2012 at 10:34 am
Ask not for whom the phone rings or darkness clings; ask for us who care and labor to follow your enduring dream of social justice.
History is strewn with kings and potentates – today’s yoricks with invisible crowns – who’se greatest fear is unwavering souls who refuse to be misled.
Our history is strewn with peasants’ polls bashed in as the price of “weekends” for the rest of us. The present is strewn with lies to hide such truths from the rest of us.
Ask those of us who care to follow your dreams; to help you shine this light.
September 3rd, 2012 at 8:17 pm
Hi Sen. Hart,
Thanks for this–I’ll be really interested to (hopefully) learn here or somewhere else about the “new way of making a social contribution beyond politics” you mentioned. I’m seriously intrigued, especially because my respect has only grown for you as I’ve read your thoughtful ruminations on many things I deeply care about (community, the balance between collectivism and individualism, common purpose, etc.).
Many thanks for taking the time to write and share all of that, it’s encouraging…if challenging to see how it can be realized in our day. I’m attempting to find some role to play in it myself, though we’ll see what that means, as I find I am similarly conflicted between politics and other means of social contributions…
I especially have appreciated Patricia Hill Collins’ focus on ideas of power and change that go beyond just political parties and unions to include “feminist theories of power which emphasize energy and community.” I think there may be something to that and sense much related emphasis in your writings. More questions than answers sometimes, but thank you again for the writing here…
All best,
Brendan
September 4th, 2012 at 10:43 am
Senator Hart,
I have appreciated your valuable insight and leadership throughout the years, and hope that you will continue to provide both during this period of turmoil that our country and the world at large are experiencing. Without individuals of your kind, our outlook is bleak at best. We as a nation should all be doing our own soul searching in much the same manner that you describe.
Thank you,
Stephen D. Pillow
September 9th, 2012 at 12:39 pm
Senator Hart,
Your call to a higher level of political discourse and new approaches to tackling old problems inspired my original interest in politics in the 1980s. For many years I was a political junkie and would would watch C-Span and CNN (later MSNBC) for hours. I majored in Political Science in college and I was active for some years in the 90s in local Democratic politics. But like you, the trend of recent years has greatly reduced my interest. For instance, I avoided watching any of the Democratic convention last week except for President Clinton’s speech, whereas in past years I’d have been glued to the screen for four nights. Nowadays I’d rather read books of liberal political theory from past centuries than read about what is actually going on in the political world. There’s so little discussion of actual ideas – just a lot of conflicting “facts” being tossed around (in this country, anyway). To some extent I feel that to step back in this way is to surrender the field to the shouting, angry, thought-deprived Tea Partiers, but on the other hand I sometimes think that the only way they will be got rid of is to give them enough rope with which to hang themselves. This, though, is a very risky strategy as they may hang many others before getting around to themselves.
In any event, I hope your post doesn’t mean that you will no longer be writing on this blog, even if the focus of it is less political and more philosophical. I have noticed that in many ways it has been tending that way for a while. But whatever way you ultimately decide to make your contribution, I will be listening.
Kind regards,
Brian C McCarthy