THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, September 9, 1995 TAG: 9509080002
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A10 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Opinion
SOURCE: By DANIEL P. RICHARDSON
LENGTH: Long : 116 lines
Shortly before my father's death a few years ago, I visited with him over period of several weeks. He was a retired professor at the University of Virginia's Darden Business School. His field (he continued to write) was applied anthropology with an emphasis on organizational behavior.
Although in pain and aware that he was dying, his extraordinary intellectual curiosity didn't take a break. Our conversations covered a wide range of topics - constitutional law, the history of cooperation among animals, theories of management, sports and conservation. We discussed our country's inability to solve the problems of American education and it's frustrations in rethinking our Middle East policy.
Those conversations remain very special to me, but one was particularly unforgettable and seems especially so today. At one point Dad asked me if I had read Donald Regan's book about the Reagan administration where the author reported that some decisions were made using astrology. I replied that I had not read it but was appalled at the report. My father's comment was that the astrological method might benefit Washington, as astrology would be right at least 50 percent of the time which was much better odds than decisions based on ideology.
Now, eight years after this conversation with my father, our country is even more entangled in ideology as guiding force. Ideology has replaced objective analysis and pragmatic decision-making.
History is full of tragic consequences of strict adherence to ideology. Politically, communism, especially as exemplified by the the Soviet Union, is an example of an ideology being followed over the precipice. Educationally, New Math, part of a fixed educational ideology in the 1960s, was detrimental to millions of students. Socially, the ideologies of the 1960s urged the overthrow of the cultural verities people had believed and practiced for generations. Morally, Prohibition was an attempt by government fiat to eradicate the consumption of alcohol; it failed miserably, and its most lasting effect was to empower organized crime.
It seems that once a group decides to follow an ideology, it's followed to an extreme. Slogans are created that are to be obeyed rigidly without thought. They become ritual answers to problems not well-analyzed.
Today we seem to be drowning in an ideology with slogans that include:
All taxes are bad.
All government spending is bad.
Most federal regulations properly should be the purview of the states.
All federal programs are bad because they are federal programs.
The only answer to crime is punishment. Being ``tough on crime'' will solve all our social problems.
Being poor and/or uneducated is the poor/uneducated person's fault.
Welfare rolls are primarily made up of minority women and their illegitimate children.
Affirmative action is bad.
These slogans are part of our current ideology and contain within the seeds of the destruction of our country and our way of life.
Our society has many problems, not the least being that one out of five of us lives in poverty. Statistics make clear that there is also a group, at least as large as those living in poverty, that is just barely making ends meet. Pragmatically, this would seem to be a problem in need of solution. Yet, we have decided that nothing is to be done, as ``being poor and/or uneducated is the poor/uneducated person's fault.''
We have more people in prison (per capita) than any other country. Crime continues to increase, and our answer is to build more prisons and pass laws that permit our citizens to carry concealed weapons. We ignore experience suggesting that crime problems may be addressed more efficiently and less expensively with social reforms. No, ``the only answer to crime is punishment.''
Congress recently spent valuable debate time discussing the flag-burning amendment. Does an act that occurs 10 times a year need the major response of an amendment to the Constitution? Some may wonder why Congress wastes time and money debating it, particularly when the amendment would give the few flag burners the publicity they seek. Is this an example of ``Being tough on crime will solve all of our social problems''?
Racial and ethnic problems continue to haunt us. Recently an African-American friend was denied lodging at a motel that had room. Statistically, it is the white male who has the money, the jobs and the power, but there are some who see the white male as the group most discriminated against. Our ``melting pot'' is not melting. History is full of examples of societies that failed to address these problems and wound up paying a large social cost. Yet we ignore this reality, in part because, ``welfare rolls are primarily made up of minority women and their illegitimate children`` and ``all affirmative action is bad.''
In the past, liberals and conservatives supported government spending on education. Today, school districts have been freezing salaries, the federal Department of Education may be eliminated, public universities are raising tuitions while government loan programs and grants are being scaled back and eliminated. This is justified as ``all taxes are bad,'' ``government spending is bad,'' ``all federal programs are bad because they are federal programs'' and ``most federal regulations properly belong with the states.''
I don't have solutions to all these problems but I do know some historical truths: More education will enhance our people, economy and country; countries that fill their prisons or arm their citizens have never solved their crime problems; extremes of poverty and wealth have brought down more than one civilization; civilizations that have not been inclusive of all of their people have fallen by the wayside; when governments become fixated on symbolism, real problems fester and worsen.
Instead of basing our political decision-making on ideology (or astrology), I urge a return to forethought and objective analysis. We have examples from recent history to show us the way - the GI Bill, the Marshall Plan, the Civil Rights Amendment and the educational response to Sputnik.
Failure to carefully consider our options and to analyze and understand the ramifications of our actions will result in our children inheriting a country bankrupt in every conceivable way.Shortly before my father's death some years ago, I visited with him over period of several weeks. He was a retired professor at the University of Virginia's Darden Business School. His field (he continued to write) was applied anthropology with an emphasis on organizational behavior. MEMO: Mr. Richardson is head of school at Cape Henry Collegiate School in
Virginia Beach. by CNB