Institutions of Yore

 

Two separate podcasts convinced me that the institutions of old are fighting battles from another age.

The first interview was with Condoleezza Rice after being appointed the new director of the Hoover Institution. Hoover, for those who don’t know, is a right of center think tank focusing on free markets and liberty. It’s housed at Stanford University and boasts history scholars like Niall Ferguson and Victor Davis Hanson among its ranks. For me, Hoover’s been indispensable in public policy information. The second interview was Ben Sasse on the Ricochet podcast. He’s a Senator from Nebraska with big ideas and a solid understanding of the constitution.

 I’m suddenly less enamored of their big ideas and intellectual heft.

Their plans are brilliant, their prose is eloquent. But they don’t see how far gone the institutions are that we've trusted for new ideas. Too many are sitting around like knights discussing the finer points of wheat cultivation over a pint of beer (mead?). Meanwhile the dragon is burning up the town while people scramble for cover.

Senator Sasse wants to amend the constitution and get rid of the 17th amendment. It’s the one that changed how Senators are selected. State legislatures used to appoint them to 6 year terms instead of what we currently have, popular elections. Conservatives think going back to the old way would ensure that, ideas have their day. The Senate is where debate happens. He thinks the Senators are too willing to be on camera, too willing to use soundbites for radio and unwilling to do the tough work of weighing ideas. He is probably right but it's not an idea for right now.

Rice is a true believer in the American experiment and promoting our values abroad. She covered Russia, China and education in this country during her interview. On education she hopes to see a change in how we think of charter schools. I was encouraged that she gets how wide the chasm between public schools in rich neighborhoods and poor ones. Still, the questions and answers had a ‘yesteryear’ feel to them, not because of the issues but because of the timing.

Sasse and Rice and a whole lot of others like them are planning for a country that might not be around in a decade. That might sound ominous. But these institutions we’ve come to view as agents of change are hollowed out husks, held together by brainy public servants and their pet projects. They’ve missed the real issue of the day because they don’t see it. They’re still telling their Ivy League jokes (Ha ha sounds like a Harvard man!) and going on as if the country itself will hold together despite the obvious rot eating it from within, corruption.

I don’t mean only the classic understanding of it, where an official awards some construction contract to his brother-in law. That’s always been there. Corruption is simply looking the other way while real destruction takes place because it would harm your personal interests. It doesn’t have to be money. It could be a threat to public image or standing. Journalists from western newspapers like Bloomberg and Financial Times that work in China know exactly what NOT to write about. The risk of getting kicked out of the country is too great. It might sound harsh to think of this as corruption, it’s certainly not illegal. But it does represent looking the other way for a valued share of the market.  

 Without recognizing this plague we stand a very good chance of losing the country.

 The United States will be around in some form or another, likely divided and hopelessly splintered. I’m not picking on elites for their money or success. I don’t begrudge either but they have a responsibility to get in the fight. That fight is cultural right now and it only gets fixed with honest reflection about our (America’s) lack of morality. The lawlessness in our cities isn’t a tantrum by angry voters, it’s an attack against the foundational principles of the country. Corruption is how we got here, corruption of morals, corruption of business, corruption of governance.   

This is a time for honest reflection and a collective turning back to God. In other words, humility. Time for God’s people to ignore a lot of the vitriol and push for unity—real unity, not the one splashed across a Nike T-shirt that football players have to wear.

I wrote about the worship leader Sean Feucht last week. With his team of musicians traveling to large cities and inviting everyone to lift up their voice to the Creator, he is leading a tip of the spear movement.

My frustration at politicians and big idea thinkers is mostly of my own making. It’s never been the place to look for real change. I’m starting to adjust my compass as I write, thing’s a little sticky though.

Congress might not be where the fight it but they can make easier for the rest of us. In other words promote freedom and ensure any threats to speech, religion or assembly remain obscure, contained.  Get back to protecting individual liberties found in the first 10 amendments. Leave the 17^th alone for right now.

As much as I’ve criticized politicians we do need them to pay attention to the influences around them every day. Don’t worry about the institutions so much (the Senate, Schools, even the Church). Focus instead on people and use your platform to promote morality and be willing to fight for it. This is the tough part. You won’t get a lot of criticism promoting pet projects and tweaks to the system. A lot of them probably know what it takes to turn the tide of rebellion but are unwilling (so far) to do it.

Individuals tapped into their spiritual calling will become what institutions used to be, idea centers. I’m praying for a ripple effect that brings us back from the brink.