US Political Fund-Raising: Legalized Corruption

A few weeks ago, Kishore Mahbubani, Dean of the Lee Kuan Yew School of Policy keynoted a conference I helped organize.  Among those in demand for such addresses, worldwide, there are few speakers who are more masterful and evocative.

Dean Mahbubani’s theme was the need for global leadership.  His talk enumerated a litany of problems that global leadership needs to address, one of the most pernicious of which is is corruption. Corruption, Dean Mahbubani suggested, is endemic in many nations and always socially corrosive.  In the United States, too, he observed, corruption is endemic, but there is a difference: corruption in the US is legal.

I was reminded of his speech last Saturday morning as I was listening to a news story on US Presidential campaign fund raising.  Each campaign, the analyst noted, will have raised and spent more than $US one billion in contributions.  Moreover, this sum excludes the secret, unreported contributions that were made legal by a recent US Supreme Court decision in the “Citizens United” case.  Why would a contributing individual or organization want their contributions to remain unreported, the analyst asked?

The answer he offered was this:  “Individuals and organizations do not write multi-million dollar checks without expecting something in return.”  The “something” obviously is preferential treatment from government, providing value- added substantially I excess of the funds given.  Private funds, in other words, are given as payment for public goods that will benefit the giver at the expense of average citizens – that is most citizens – with few or no funds to give.

Are US political leaders legitimately standing on moral high-ground when they criticize countries such as Nigeria, South Africa, Berlusconi’s Italy, Chavez’s Venezuela, India, China and the like for corruption.  This year’s presidential campaign fund-raising highlights the hypocrisy of such posturing.  Corruption is a worldwide problem, as Dean Mahbubani has emphasized.  The only difference between my country and more overtly corrupt nations is that in the United States of America, corruption is legal. 

My Sister's Governance Philsophy: A Simple, Eloquent Message for Political Leaders

In a note responding to a recent email, my younger sister offered this simple, eloquent governance philosophy.

“…I guess it should not be surprising that the bulk of mankind seeks similar service from their governments: peace and stability, economic betterment ( first, sufficient food and medical care, better yet opportunities to earn these for oneself ) freedom to conduct one's life according to one's beliefs without fear of persecution.  And the question always is who you actually believe will deliver these ( or who will be least likely to erode the degree of these benefits you may have already attained?)”

Political philosophers and political leaders of the world, take note!

A Young Sri Lankan Buddhist Monk's Promises

When I visit Sri Lanka, as I did last week, I always try to spend a few days at the Island’s Southernmost City, Matara.  One goal of my visits to Sri Lanka’s Buddhist heartland is spending time at Matara’s Uposthagasa Temple. The Temple is located on a small rocky island, a few hundred meters from Matara’s bustling bus-station/market place and can only be reached by a foot-bridge.

Uposthagasa Temple is not a tourist destination and so I suppose the periodic appearance of an elderly Caucasian foreigner, who  spends hour or more each of several days meditating and chanting may be a bit of a curiosity.

One afternoon, a group of four young monks, three pre-teens and one older, stopped to engage me in conversation.  The oldest, in his early twenties, explained that before ordination, he had studied abroad, majoring in sociology, political science and philosophy.  Comparative religion had been a particular interest, he told me.

After about fifteen minutes he broke off our conversation and asked me to “please wait,” leaving me in the company of his three young disciples.  As the minutes passed, while the four of us smiled and made halting small-talk, with the sound of the waves breaking in the background, I wondered if had misunderstood.

However in due course, the young man returned and handed me two sheets of yellow paper in which he had  handwritten – in English – excerpts from his morning devotions and monastic vows,

The vows are now posted over my work desks in Washington DC and rural Virginia.

 PROMISES

1. I promise not to cause harm to living beings.

2. I promise not to take what does not belong to me.

3. I promise not to misbehave or act in a disrespectful manner.

4. I promise to refrain from false speech.

5. I promise to refrain from intoxicants or drugs that are harmful to me.

SPREADING LOVING KINDNESS

May all beings be free from suffering.

May all beings be free from sickness.

May all beings be free from enmity.

May all beings be happy forever.

The PhD Education Process: socializing young women and men how not to make a difference.

In late September, I participated in a unique gathering of scholar-practitioners, called the Balaton Group.  Named after a large fresh water lake in Hungary, this 30 year old community comprises two generations of women and men for whom seeking solutions to challenges of “sustainable development” has been a major priority.  The contributions of many are widely recognized as having made a significant difference towards improving the human condition.  

This,  year’s gathering, which celebrated a sustainable development classic, The Limits to Growth, targeted the question “how can scholar-practitioners make the results of their work accessible so that it will make a difference.”  Among the most important take aways were that effective interventions are often collaborative, begin with awareness of client needs, use language that target-audiences can understand and are presented in venues - including on-line venues - that potential change-agents frequently access.

Those admitted to Ph.D. programs, especially nationally ranked Ph.D. programs are among society’s most intellectually gifted. They seek to develop research proficiency, make “contributions to knowledge,” win an academic “union card” and, often, pursue a vocation as “teacher-scholar.”   However many of those seeking degrees in subject matter areas relevant to public policy are also motivated by a high ideals and the desire to have their work improve the human condition.

What makes me sad is the degree to which much of doctoral education seems uniquely crafted to destroy such motivations and the skill sets necessary to realize them. At breakfast, one morning, the editor of a leading public-policy oriented journal and I were bemoaning this and focusing on the problem starkly.   Students are socialized to believe that the best work is individually authored,  that the language they use should be didactic rather than accessible, that publication venues should be academic journals and books from academic presses that are read by few. If they are seeking competitive academic positions, they are warned that the draconian academic tenure process requires this.

In my experience some gifted, highly motivated young scholars survive this process with their idealism and talents reasonably intact. Ph.D. studies and dissertation writing have, in fact enhanced their ability to contribute (or at least not eroded it).

But many do not.   

(Dormgrandpop was Director of Doctoral Studies at American University's School of International Service for nine years.) 

Easy-Jet checked baggage procedures: demeaning, nonsensical and time-consuming.

My current trip is a complicated one, with four different destinations - Geneva, Budapest, Singapore and Sri Lanka.  Because I wanted to share the Geneva Budapest leg with a friend, I decided on a separate booking on her carrier of choice for frequent European travel, “Easy Jet.”  The experience  was not an “easy” one and I doubt it is one I will be repeating.

For reasons not clear to me, the exact weight of checked baggage has become, for some airlines, a fetishistic constraint at the time of check in.  Check-in counter staff members, whose principal function was once to welcome and facilitate have been tasked with the role of police enforcers.  The procedures are demeaning, nonsensical and time consuming.

Because of my complex travel regimen, I needed to check two bags, accepting an overage charge.  However because the second bag pushed me over some total limit that was never adequately explained, the cost of this seond small  bag was to be more than the total cost of the flight.  With the help of the agent we solved the problem.  First I removed the portable printer from the bag and stowed it in my back pack.  Still too heavy.  I removed two books - they would not fit in the bulging back pack so I placed them under my arm.  Still too heavy.  I removed a sweater and tied it around my waist.  This enabled me to cross the magic number threshold and check my now nearly empty second bag for the reasonable extra charge advertised on the Easy Jet Website.

The total weight was, of course, unchanged.  How it benefitted anyone for me to carry my portable printer in my back pack, books under my arm and a sweater around my waist, which checking a half empty bag (which I would need for future legs of the trip) I cannot imagine.  

No doubt I could unravel Easy Jet’s arcane procedures with sufficient time, as other passengers have done.  However this is not time I will be spending. I will not be booking another Easy Jet fight any time soon.  The Easy Jet staff members tasked to be enforcers are deserving of our altruistic compassion and Easy Jet passengers even more so.