From: Seth Godin's Blog
http://www.typepad.com/services/trackback/6a00d83451b31569e2017d3d4702f6970c
The cost of neutral
If you come to my brainstorming meeting and say nothing, it would have been better if you hadn't come at all.
If you go to work and do what you're told, you're not being negative, certainly, but the lack of initiative you demonstrate (which, alas, you were trained not to demonstrate) costs us all, because you're using a slot that could have been filled by someone who would have added more value.
It's tempting to sit quietly, take notes and comply, rationalizing that at least you're not doing anything negative. But the opportunity cost your newly lean, highly leveraged organization faces is significant.
Not adding value is the same as taking it away.
Saturday, January 12, 2013
Tuesday, December 18, 2012
What I Read Today - Tuesday December 18, 2012
From: The Wall Street Journal Tuesday December 18, 2012
HOW TO TREAT WORKPLACE STRESS
As the new year approaches – and with it the inevitable wave of self-improvement plans–we’ve identified 10 strategies for advancing your career in 2013. From recovering from an office blunder to learning why it doesn’t pay to be Mr. (or Ms.) Nice Guy, this ten-point plan will offer daily tips on what to do and how to do it.
Dr. David Posen, an author and general practitioner in Oakville, Ontario, started noticing a pattern almost 20 years ago: Patients were coming into his office with symptoms like high blood pressure, heart problems, panic attacks and depression. When he pressed for a sense of what was happening in their lives, the patients shared tales of burnout, overwork and abusive managers. These stories “made me want to call their employers and say, ‘Stop doing this! You’re killing your employees!’” he said.
Instead of calling all those bosses, Dr. Posen wrote the forthcoming book, “Is Work Killing You? A Doctor’s Prescription for Treating Workplace Stress.” In it, he offers suggestions for what workers, managers and companies can do to lower stress levels all around. He condensed some of his suggestions during a talk with At Work.
WSJ: What are the main causes of workplace stress?
Posen: The big three are volume, velocity and abuse. In terms of volume, people are working longer hours, which then affects their health, their sleep patterns, and their personal lives. By velocity, I mean the pace of the workplace has gotten faster because of technology, increased expectations, overlapping deadlines, unrealistic deadlines.
Abuse is bullying, harassment, and all the politics people play. It’s amazing how one abusive person can create stress for dozens of people. It’s become a bigger problem because people have less freedom to say ‘I don’t want this job’ and go somewhere else. So people aren’t quitting and they’re not even complaining because they don’t want to seem like troublemakers.
WSJ: What would you say to a mid-level corporate employee who’s suffering from stress-related illnesses?
Posen:Identify where the stress is coming from. Is it about deadlines? A difficult boss? The fact that you don’t have resources you need? A fear that you don’t have the skill set to do what you’re being asked to do? Zero in on what aspect of work is the problem and then deal with that. Take breaks – whether that means 5 or 10 minutes, lunch, a mental health day here and there, or going on vacation. In 2010, Americans left 424 million paid vacation days on the table.
WSJ: What are some simple ways people can reduce stress without making huge changes in their work situations?
Posen: I recommend people take regular time-outs, even just 15 minutes walking in the sunshine on your lunch break. Time-outs are built into sports, and they should be a part of a regular workday too. We all need opportunities to relax and catch our breath. Another pretty easy fix: drink less caffeine. Energy drinks, coffee – these stimulate a stress reaction and block the natural relaxants in the brain. I call coffee “stress in a cup.”
WSJ: Many people can’t afford to leave their jobs. What are their options?
Posen: Some of my patients go on disability, or they take a medical leave of absence. You do need a doctor’s diagnosis – diagnoses might list depression, burnout, hypertension – but when done properly, that shouldn’t be shared with the employer, only the insurance company. Depression is by far the most common stress-related diagnosis.
WSJ: Does one have to give up their professional ambition in order to restore a sense of well-being to their work lives?
Posen: For the vast majority of people, when you take better care of yourself, you function better and perform better. One of my mottos is, it’s better to work 40-50 productive hours a week than 50-60 semi-productive hours. After 60 hours, you’re getting diminishing returns for your efforts.
WSJ: If a manager had to come up with a New Year’s resolution around helping employees deal with stress, what should it be?
Posen: As a manager, you need to know who’s wilting under the pace or workload. Start talking to people and ask them simple questions like, ‘How are you managing here? Is it too much work? Is the pace too fast?’ Ask people what they need, what resources would be helpful. And be a good role model. If the manager is working long hours, people feel they have to work long hours. If the manager is sending emails on Sunday, they feel they have to respond on Sunday. Give people permission to slow down. When the boss says to someone at 4:30, ‘You look pretty fried. Why don’t you just knock off, go home early, and I’ll see you tomorrow?’ It’s like handing an employee the biggest gift.
HOW TO TREAT WORKPLACE STRESS
As the new year approaches – and with it the inevitable wave of self-improvement plans–we’ve identified 10 strategies for advancing your career in 2013. From recovering from an office blunder to learning why it doesn’t pay to be Mr. (or Ms.) Nice Guy, this ten-point plan will offer daily tips on what to do and how to do it.
Dr. David Posen, an author and general practitioner in Oakville, Ontario, started noticing a pattern almost 20 years ago: Patients were coming into his office with symptoms like high blood pressure, heart problems, panic attacks and depression. When he pressed for a sense of what was happening in their lives, the patients shared tales of burnout, overwork and abusive managers. These stories “made me want to call their employers and say, ‘Stop doing this! You’re killing your employees!’” he said.
Instead of calling all those bosses, Dr. Posen wrote the forthcoming book, “Is Work Killing You? A Doctor’s Prescription for Treating Workplace Stress.” In it, he offers suggestions for what workers, managers and companies can do to lower stress levels all around. He condensed some of his suggestions during a talk with At Work.
WSJ: What are the main causes of workplace stress?
Posen: The big three are volume, velocity and abuse. In terms of volume, people are working longer hours, which then affects their health, their sleep patterns, and their personal lives. By velocity, I mean the pace of the workplace has gotten faster because of technology, increased expectations, overlapping deadlines, unrealistic deadlines.
Abuse is bullying, harassment, and all the politics people play. It’s amazing how one abusive person can create stress for dozens of people. It’s become a bigger problem because people have less freedom to say ‘I don’t want this job’ and go somewhere else. So people aren’t quitting and they’re not even complaining because they don’t want to seem like troublemakers.
WSJ: What would you say to a mid-level corporate employee who’s suffering from stress-related illnesses?
Posen:Identify where the stress is coming from. Is it about deadlines? A difficult boss? The fact that you don’t have resources you need? A fear that you don’t have the skill set to do what you’re being asked to do? Zero in on what aspect of work is the problem and then deal with that. Take breaks – whether that means 5 or 10 minutes, lunch, a mental health day here and there, or going on vacation. In 2010, Americans left 424 million paid vacation days on the table.
WSJ: What are some simple ways people can reduce stress without making huge changes in their work situations?
Posen: I recommend people take regular time-outs, even just 15 minutes walking in the sunshine on your lunch break. Time-outs are built into sports, and they should be a part of a regular workday too. We all need opportunities to relax and catch our breath. Another pretty easy fix: drink less caffeine. Energy drinks, coffee – these stimulate a stress reaction and block the natural relaxants in the brain. I call coffee “stress in a cup.”
WSJ: Many people can’t afford to leave their jobs. What are their options?
Posen: Some of my patients go on disability, or they take a medical leave of absence. You do need a doctor’s diagnosis – diagnoses might list depression, burnout, hypertension – but when done properly, that shouldn’t be shared with the employer, only the insurance company. Depression is by far the most common stress-related diagnosis.
WSJ: Does one have to give up their professional ambition in order to restore a sense of well-being to their work lives?
Posen: For the vast majority of people, when you take better care of yourself, you function better and perform better. One of my mottos is, it’s better to work 40-50 productive hours a week than 50-60 semi-productive hours. After 60 hours, you’re getting diminishing returns for your efforts.
WSJ: If a manager had to come up with a New Year’s resolution around helping employees deal with stress, what should it be?
Posen: As a manager, you need to know who’s wilting under the pace or workload. Start talking to people and ask them simple questions like, ‘How are you managing here? Is it too much work? Is the pace too fast?’ Ask people what they need, what resources would be helpful. And be a good role model. If the manager is working long hours, people feel they have to work long hours. If the manager is sending emails on Sunday, they feel they have to respond on Sunday. Give people permission to slow down. When the boss says to someone at 4:30, ‘You look pretty fried. Why don’t you just knock off, go home early, and I’ll see you tomorrow?’ It’s like handing an employee the biggest gift.
Monday, December 17, 2012
What I Read Today - Monday December 17, 2012
From: CNN webpage on Monday December 17, 2012
Note: We visted Mystic CT (mentioned in this article) for a couple of days back in September.
CNN) -- George Hochsprung's world began to crumble Friday when one of the students at the Connecticut middle school where he works walked up to him.
Something was happening at the elementary school less than 10 miles away where Hochsprung's wife was principal, the student said, holding a computer. There were reports his wife had been killed.
Hochsprung rushed out of the building, one of dozens of family members of students and staff at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, desperately seeking information about their loved ones that day.
His wife, Dawn, was in a meeting that morning when a 20-year-old local man blasted his way into the elementary school armed with three guns. She stepped out of the meeting to find out what was going on and never returned.
She was among the 26 people shot and killed inside the school by the gunman, Adam Lanza, who then turned a weapon on himself. Twenty of the dead were children.
Vigil held for shooting victimsTeacher: Sandy Hook is a tight-knit groupSunday school teacher faces heartbreakThe lives cut short in school shootingAs people across the world struggle to comprehend Lanza's atrocious acts, George Hochsprung has been left with a future that no longer makes sense.
He is more than 20 years older than his wife, who was 47 when she died. He never imagined he would outlive her.
"Dawn and I built this beautiful house in the Adirondacks, our dream," he said in an interview Sunday night, sitting on a couch surrounded by his three daughters and one of his stepdaughters.
"It was going to be Dawn's house because I was going to die," he said, explaining that they had included extra rooms in the house, so that their children and grandchildren could come keep his wife company after he was gone.
"And now it's me," he said. "I don't think I can do that."
He is now leaning on the support of their children and 11 grandchildren, but even that seems incongruous to him.
"My job has always been to take care of other people," he said.
Slain principal remembered as energetic, positive, passionate
Fittingly for two people who had made their careers in education, the couple met at a school, Rogers Park Middle School in Danbury, Connecticut. It's the same school where he was working Friday.
He was a good deal older when they met, but she was his superior in the school hierarchy: She was an assistant principal, and he was a seventh-grade math teacher.
"I just fell in love with her," he said. But it took a little while for him to persuade her to marry him: "She turned me down five times."
Once he won her over, their wedding was influenced by their mutual love of sailing, taking place on a boat at sea near the Connecticut port of Mystic a decade ago.
They had both been married previously, and their union brought together three daughters on his side and two on hers.
One of her two daughters, Erica, described a devoted mother.
"Every practice, she was there," she said. "All of my sister's cheerleadering stuff, she was there. Every dance competition. She was doing homework on the bleachers, but she was there. And she was my rock."
Dawn Hochsprung's commitment to her family was closely matched by her dedication to her students, according to friends and family members.
"She was really nice and very fun, but she was also very much a tough lady in the right sort of sense," according to Tom Prunty, a friend, whose niece goes to Sandy Hook and was uninjured Friday. "She was the kind of person you'd want to be educating your kids. And the kids loved her."
Her decision to step out into danger when the shooting began has left her husband with some difficult emotions.
"Dawn put herself in jeopardy, and I have been angry about that," he said.
But that changed Sunday, he said, when he met two teachers who told him that his wife had instructed them to take shelter while she confronted Lanza.
"She could've avoided that," George Hochsprung said. "But she didn't; I knew she wouldn't. So, I'm not angry anymore."
His voice wavering, he continued: "I'm not angry. I'm just very sad."
Note: We visted Mystic CT (mentioned in this article) for a couple of days back in September.
CNN) -- George Hochsprung's world began to crumble Friday when one of the students at the Connecticut middle school where he works walked up to him.
Something was happening at the elementary school less than 10 miles away where Hochsprung's wife was principal, the student said, holding a computer. There were reports his wife had been killed.
Hochsprung rushed out of the building, one of dozens of family members of students and staff at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, desperately seeking information about their loved ones that day.
His wife, Dawn, was in a meeting that morning when a 20-year-old local man blasted his way into the elementary school armed with three guns. She stepped out of the meeting to find out what was going on and never returned.
She was among the 26 people shot and killed inside the school by the gunman, Adam Lanza, who then turned a weapon on himself. Twenty of the dead were children.
Vigil held for shooting victimsTeacher: Sandy Hook is a tight-knit groupSunday school teacher faces heartbreakThe lives cut short in school shootingAs people across the world struggle to comprehend Lanza's atrocious acts, George Hochsprung has been left with a future that no longer makes sense.
He is more than 20 years older than his wife, who was 47 when she died. He never imagined he would outlive her.
"Dawn and I built this beautiful house in the Adirondacks, our dream," he said in an interview Sunday night, sitting on a couch surrounded by his three daughters and one of his stepdaughters.
"It was going to be Dawn's house because I was going to die," he said, explaining that they had included extra rooms in the house, so that their children and grandchildren could come keep his wife company after he was gone.
"And now it's me," he said. "I don't think I can do that."
He is now leaning on the support of their children and 11 grandchildren, but even that seems incongruous to him.
"My job has always been to take care of other people," he said.
Slain principal remembered as energetic, positive, passionate
Fittingly for two people who had made their careers in education, the couple met at a school, Rogers Park Middle School in Danbury, Connecticut. It's the same school where he was working Friday.
He was a good deal older when they met, but she was his superior in the school hierarchy: She was an assistant principal, and he was a seventh-grade math teacher.
"I just fell in love with her," he said. But it took a little while for him to persuade her to marry him: "She turned me down five times."
Once he won her over, their wedding was influenced by their mutual love of sailing, taking place on a boat at sea near the Connecticut port of Mystic a decade ago.
They had both been married previously, and their union brought together three daughters on his side and two on hers.
One of her two daughters, Erica, described a devoted mother.
"Every practice, she was there," she said. "All of my sister's cheerleadering stuff, she was there. Every dance competition. She was doing homework on the bleachers, but she was there. And she was my rock."
Dawn Hochsprung's commitment to her family was closely matched by her dedication to her students, according to friends and family members.
"She was really nice and very fun, but she was also very much a tough lady in the right sort of sense," according to Tom Prunty, a friend, whose niece goes to Sandy Hook and was uninjured Friday. "She was the kind of person you'd want to be educating your kids. And the kids loved her."
Her decision to step out into danger when the shooting began has left her husband with some difficult emotions.
"Dawn put herself in jeopardy, and I have been angry about that," he said.
But that changed Sunday, he said, when he met two teachers who told him that his wife had instructed them to take shelter while she confronted Lanza.
"She could've avoided that," George Hochsprung said. "But she didn't; I knew she wouldn't. So, I'm not angry anymore."
His voice wavering, he continued: "I'm not angry. I'm just very sad."
Monday, November 19, 2012
What I Read Today - Monday November 19, 2012
From: The Baxter Bulletin - Sunday November 18, 2012
Nothing like a drive-in picture show
Written by From Baxter County Historical & Genealogical Society
Nov. 18 baxterbulletin.com
(This story is from Mary Ann Messick’s “Focus on History” and was edited by Martha White Lee.)
On their honeymoon in April 1950, Bob Brixey, a native Baxter Countian, brought his wife Doris to Baxter County. She fell in love with this area. Being raised in Oklahoma and Texas, she commented, “I had never seen clear water before. The rivers and creeks were so beautiful.”
They returned to Oklahoma City. While at a drive-in theater there, Doris remarked to Bob that she thought a drive-in would do well in a small town like Comanche, Texas, where her grandmother lived. “Or in Mountain Home, Arkansas,” Bob replied.
In 1951, the Brixeys purchased 10 acres on the outskirts of Gassville. They and their 14-month-old son moved into a small building on the property. Construction on the first and only drive-in theater in Baxter County began and became the Starlite Drive-In Theater.
Forty speakers were installed and ready by May 16, 1952, for the first showing, “Blue Grass of Kentucky.” They expected only a handful of cars would show up, yet every speaker was in use and several cars were without one. All 100 speakers were ready the next night and the same movie was shown to a sell-out crowd.
The admission charge was 41 cents for adults and 10 cents for children. Popcorn and drinks were 10 cents and hot dogs were 15 cents. On Tuesday night — buck night — an entire motor vehicle paid $1 to get in. One always knew when it was buck night. Before dark, flat-bed trucks came from the north loaded to the gills.
Though the drive-in was a mecca for teens, the average customers were young married couples with one or two children. It made the perfect place to relax. The children, dressed in their pajamas, watched the cartoons as they snacked on goodies from the snack bar, then fell asleep in the back seat. Mom and Dad had the opportunity to enjoy the movie and each other’s companionship.
Westerns were the favorites along with movies like “Lum and Abner,” “Ma and Pa Kettle” and anything starring Elvis. Soon, science fiction movies became frightening favorites. When “Bronco Billy” starring Clint Eastwood was showing, drivers wearing a cowboy hat got in free. The nights “Saturday Night Fever” with John Travolta was playing, the Brixeys and their employees dressed up like Travolta. The Jerry Hopper Band played before the movie “Honeysuckle Rose” and during intermission on the nights it showed.
“The Greatest Show on Earth” was the longest-running movie. It played for two weeks to sell-out crowds. The last movie shown was “Predator” starring Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Usually, top country music hits were played through the speakers until showtime. They came through sounding clear and pure.
Youngsters trying to sneak in created a small problem. Bob usually knew which cars to watch. When the driver parked, he wouldn’t get out because Bob would stand by the trunk. In a few minutes, Bob would knock on the trunk and say, “All clear.” The hider came out — to face him. Some tried to sneak in through the natural fence surrounding the drive-in. In the ’60s, a chain link fence was installed.
Customers didn’t always drive in to the Starlite. Some came by horseback and tied their steeds at the entrance. Over-the-road truck drivers parked along the highway and walked in.
The Brixeys loved their work. It showed in the ways they promoted the drive-in, which improved business and the customers’ pleasure.
The July 4th fireworks drew their biggest crowds. The fireworks consisted of a number of aerial and ground displays and ended with a giant red, white, and blue American flag.
At least a thousand, if not more, adults and children attended. Vehicles parked on the highway right-of-way for miles and in nearby pastures. Some didn’t have to attend — they had a lovely view of the aerial display from their homes.
The Starlite wasn’t always just a movie. During the summer, the Brixeys sponsored fiddlers’ contests on an outdoor stand in front of the concession stand. Well-known local artists such as Bobby Gene Carson (founder of The Monkey Run Boys), the late Marvin Stafford, and the late Billy Ray Lewis performed. There were sack races, chicken chases and, after Sputnik brought the space age into reality, flying saucer spins. Winners received a free pass to the Starlite.
A Kiddy Park with a small Ferris wheel, slides, swings and teeter totter were added. At one time, there was a baseball field alongside Highway 126 for use by area teams. Along came the Starlite Roller Rink, the only one for miles around.
The Brixeys, assisted by their two sons, celebrated the theater’s anniversary with cake and drinks for everybody. They advertised it by saying “It’s our birthday but it’s your party.”
In the late ’50s, they purchased a bus to haul customers to the movie and the roller rink. Eventually, more and more teenagers got their own wheels so the bus was no longer needed. They donated it to the Gassville Baptist Church.
From 1955-’60, the drive-in stayed open year round, then started opening in March and closed in November each year. In the ’80s, VCR became a household word and the “Twins,” — indoor theaters in Mountain Home — were in operation. Customers dwindled.
The last movie was shown on Aug. 30, 1987. Due to Bob’s ill health, it never reopened. He passed away March 12, 1989. Except for what the Brixey family wanted for keepsakes, the equipment and steel screen was auctioned off the same year. The building that housed the concession stand, indoor auditorium, the upstairs projection room and the living quarters upstairs was demolished.
For 26 years, the Starlite Drive-In Theater brightened up our night sky. Undoubtedly, those who went there frequently from 1952 to 1987 and former employees have fond memories of the drive-in. The Gassville Branch of First Security Bank, McDonalds and Genuine Care Pharmacy occupy the grounds today.
Photographs and information in this series was provided by the Baxter County Historical and Genealogical Society. If you have additional photos and information you would like to have properly preserved, please contact the BCHGS by phone at 425-2551, by email at bcarchives@centurytel.net, or by mail to Baxter County Historical & Genealogical Society, P.O. Box 2125, Mountain Home, AR 72654. Additional information may be found at www.baxtercountyhistory.org. A Look Back can be found on-line at www.baxterbulletin.com.
Nothing like a drive-in picture show
Written by From Baxter County Historical & Genealogical Society
Nov. 18 baxterbulletin.com
(This story is from Mary Ann Messick’s “Focus on History” and was edited by Martha White Lee.)
On their honeymoon in April 1950, Bob Brixey, a native Baxter Countian, brought his wife Doris to Baxter County. She fell in love with this area. Being raised in Oklahoma and Texas, she commented, “I had never seen clear water before. The rivers and creeks were so beautiful.”
They returned to Oklahoma City. While at a drive-in theater there, Doris remarked to Bob that she thought a drive-in would do well in a small town like Comanche, Texas, where her grandmother lived. “Or in Mountain Home, Arkansas,” Bob replied.
In 1951, the Brixeys purchased 10 acres on the outskirts of Gassville. They and their 14-month-old son moved into a small building on the property. Construction on the first and only drive-in theater in Baxter County began and became the Starlite Drive-In Theater.
Forty speakers were installed and ready by May 16, 1952, for the first showing, “Blue Grass of Kentucky.” They expected only a handful of cars would show up, yet every speaker was in use and several cars were without one. All 100 speakers were ready the next night and the same movie was shown to a sell-out crowd.
The admission charge was 41 cents for adults and 10 cents for children. Popcorn and drinks were 10 cents and hot dogs were 15 cents. On Tuesday night — buck night — an entire motor vehicle paid $1 to get in. One always knew when it was buck night. Before dark, flat-bed trucks came from the north loaded to the gills.
Though the drive-in was a mecca for teens, the average customers were young married couples with one or two children. It made the perfect place to relax. The children, dressed in their pajamas, watched the cartoons as they snacked on goodies from the snack bar, then fell asleep in the back seat. Mom and Dad had the opportunity to enjoy the movie and each other’s companionship.
Westerns were the favorites along with movies like “Lum and Abner,” “Ma and Pa Kettle” and anything starring Elvis. Soon, science fiction movies became frightening favorites. When “Bronco Billy” starring Clint Eastwood was showing, drivers wearing a cowboy hat got in free. The nights “Saturday Night Fever” with John Travolta was playing, the Brixeys and their employees dressed up like Travolta. The Jerry Hopper Band played before the movie “Honeysuckle Rose” and during intermission on the nights it showed.
“The Greatest Show on Earth” was the longest-running movie. It played for two weeks to sell-out crowds. The last movie shown was “Predator” starring Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Usually, top country music hits were played through the speakers until showtime. They came through sounding clear and pure.
Youngsters trying to sneak in created a small problem. Bob usually knew which cars to watch. When the driver parked, he wouldn’t get out because Bob would stand by the trunk. In a few minutes, Bob would knock on the trunk and say, “All clear.” The hider came out — to face him. Some tried to sneak in through the natural fence surrounding the drive-in. In the ’60s, a chain link fence was installed.
Customers didn’t always drive in to the Starlite. Some came by horseback and tied their steeds at the entrance. Over-the-road truck drivers parked along the highway and walked in.
The Brixeys loved their work. It showed in the ways they promoted the drive-in, which improved business and the customers’ pleasure.
The July 4th fireworks drew their biggest crowds. The fireworks consisted of a number of aerial and ground displays and ended with a giant red, white, and blue American flag.
At least a thousand, if not more, adults and children attended. Vehicles parked on the highway right-of-way for miles and in nearby pastures. Some didn’t have to attend — they had a lovely view of the aerial display from their homes.
The Starlite wasn’t always just a movie. During the summer, the Brixeys sponsored fiddlers’ contests on an outdoor stand in front of the concession stand. Well-known local artists such as Bobby Gene Carson (founder of The Monkey Run Boys), the late Marvin Stafford, and the late Billy Ray Lewis performed. There were sack races, chicken chases and, after Sputnik brought the space age into reality, flying saucer spins. Winners received a free pass to the Starlite.
A Kiddy Park with a small Ferris wheel, slides, swings and teeter totter were added. At one time, there was a baseball field alongside Highway 126 for use by area teams. Along came the Starlite Roller Rink, the only one for miles around.
The Brixeys, assisted by their two sons, celebrated the theater’s anniversary with cake and drinks for everybody. They advertised it by saying “It’s our birthday but it’s your party.”
In the late ’50s, they purchased a bus to haul customers to the movie and the roller rink. Eventually, more and more teenagers got their own wheels so the bus was no longer needed. They donated it to the Gassville Baptist Church.
From 1955-’60, the drive-in stayed open year round, then started opening in March and closed in November each year. In the ’80s, VCR became a household word and the “Twins,” — indoor theaters in Mountain Home — were in operation. Customers dwindled.
The last movie was shown on Aug. 30, 1987. Due to Bob’s ill health, it never reopened. He passed away March 12, 1989. Except for what the Brixey family wanted for keepsakes, the equipment and steel screen was auctioned off the same year. The building that housed the concession stand, indoor auditorium, the upstairs projection room and the living quarters upstairs was demolished.
For 26 years, the Starlite Drive-In Theater brightened up our night sky. Undoubtedly, those who went there frequently from 1952 to 1987 and former employees have fond memories of the drive-in. The Gassville Branch of First Security Bank, McDonalds and Genuine Care Pharmacy occupy the grounds today.
Photographs and information in this series was provided by the Baxter County Historical and Genealogical Society. If you have additional photos and information you would like to have properly preserved, please contact the BCHGS by phone at 425-2551, by email at bcarchives@centurytel.net, or by mail to Baxter County Historical & Genealogical Society, P.O. Box 2125, Mountain Home, AR 72654. Additional information may be found at www.baxtercountyhistory.org. A Look Back can be found on-line at www.baxterbulletin.com.
What I Read Today - Sunday November 18, 2012
From: The Arkansas Democrat Gazette - Sunday November 18, 2012
Church people
By Tom Dillard
This article was published November 18, 2012 at 2:50 a.m.
LITTLE ROCK — The First Presbyterian Church of Dardanelle is celebrating the centennial of its church building today, which draws attention to the role played by these hardworking followers of John Calvin in the history of Arkansas. First Presbyterian of Dardanelle grew out of the church at Norristown on the north side of the Arkansas River in modern Russellville. When a new church building was needed after the turn of the 20th Century, women played a major role in funding the new church, and it was known within the denomination as “the church built by women.”
It is generally agreed that a Presbyterian preached the first Protestant sermon in Arkansas. There seems to be some debate as to just when and where that sermon was delivered—either at Arkansas Post in 1811 or Crystal Hill, near modern Maumelle, in 1812. If it were preached in 1812, then this year marks the bicentennial of Protestantism in Arkansas.
There is no debate about who the preacher was—Rev. John P. Carnahan from Kentucky’s Cumberland Presbytery. The Carnahan family arrived in Arkansas in 1811, settled briefly at Crystal Hill, and then moved to Cane Hill in modern Washington County.
While Carnahan was certainly a pioneer, the Rev. James Wilson Moore is regarded as the Father of Presbyterianism in Arkansas. Unlike Carnahan, who was what is today known as a Cumberland Presbyterian, Moore was affiliated with what would become known as the Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. Arriving in the young village of Little Rock in January of 1828, Moore reported finding only three white and three enslaved professed Christians. A graduate of Princeton Theological Seminary, Moore worked for 45 years as a missionary and minister in Arkansas. Among the churches he established was First Presbyterian of Little Rock. In 1840, Moore relocated his family about 30 miles east of Little Rock to an area he called “Ruralia,” where he established Sylvania Church in 1843. He also established an academy to educate young men.
Presbyterians of all stripes have always supported education. Indeed, in 1821 a Presbyterian named Cephas Washburn established a mission and school for Cherokee Indians living in the vicinity of modern Russellville.
The Presbyterians established their first college, Cane Hill College, in 1834 in the village by that name west of Fayetteville. This was while Arkansas was still a territory. Except for the Civil War, Cane Hill College remained open until 1891, serving as an important educational institution in a time when colleges were few in number. In 1875 it became the first four-year college in the state to admit women into its degree programs. The college relocated to Clarksville in 1891 and eventually became known as the University of the Ozarks.
Perhaps Presbyterians deserve the most recognition for providing educational opportunities for freed slaves following the Civil War. Except for the largest towns, most Arkansas communities did little to educate the freedmen. In the 1880s, the “northern” Presbyterian Church—the denomination split during the Civil War—began organizing academies for black children across the South. In Arkansas, the best-known Presbyterian black school was Cotton Plant Academy in Woodruff County, which was almost completely funded by the Presbyterian women of Illinois. By 1890, the school had 200 students, most being in the elementary grades, but some were working at the secondary level, and a few students boarded at the school. This was the only school in the area that offered high school classes for black students. The famed black pianist and composer Florence Price taught at the academy. It closed in 1950.
Another important Presbyterian school for black students was the Richard Allen Institute in Pine Bluff, established in 1886. Lasting until 1932 after the outbreak of the Great Depression, the institute educated many black citizens, including George E. Haynes, who went on to get a doctorate from Columbia University and become the first executive director of the National Urban League.
Presbyterians were also part of a national movement in the early 1900s to establish “mountain missions” in the isolated southern mountains where public schools usually did not go beyond the eighth grade. Two examples of these schools in Arkansas were the Kingskraft High School in Kingston in Madison County, and the Caddo Valley Academy at Norman in Montgomery County. These schools were especially important in educating girls.
As the Presbyterians of Dardanelle gather today to celebrate the centennial of their church structure, female members can take particular pride in the role played by women in funding the building. These dedicated Presbyterian women even hired themselves out as cotton pickers to raise money.
Tradition has it that many of the merchants in town closed shop in order to watch the women picking cotton. One woman wrote that the men “sat on the rail fence all day, eating at noon from paper bags.” The church was debt-free by the end of 1913.
—–––––
Tom Dillard is a historian and retired archivist living in Farmington, Ark. Email tomd@pgtc.com.
Editorial, Pages 84 on 11/18/2012
Print Headline: Church people
Church people
By Tom Dillard
This article was published November 18, 2012 at 2:50 a.m.
LITTLE ROCK — The First Presbyterian Church of Dardanelle is celebrating the centennial of its church building today, which draws attention to the role played by these hardworking followers of John Calvin in the history of Arkansas. First Presbyterian of Dardanelle grew out of the church at Norristown on the north side of the Arkansas River in modern Russellville. When a new church building was needed after the turn of the 20th Century, women played a major role in funding the new church, and it was known within the denomination as “the church built by women.”
It is generally agreed that a Presbyterian preached the first Protestant sermon in Arkansas. There seems to be some debate as to just when and where that sermon was delivered—either at Arkansas Post in 1811 or Crystal Hill, near modern Maumelle, in 1812. If it were preached in 1812, then this year marks the bicentennial of Protestantism in Arkansas.
There is no debate about who the preacher was—Rev. John P. Carnahan from Kentucky’s Cumberland Presbytery. The Carnahan family arrived in Arkansas in 1811, settled briefly at Crystal Hill, and then moved to Cane Hill in modern Washington County.
While Carnahan was certainly a pioneer, the Rev. James Wilson Moore is regarded as the Father of Presbyterianism in Arkansas. Unlike Carnahan, who was what is today known as a Cumberland Presbyterian, Moore was affiliated with what would become known as the Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. Arriving in the young village of Little Rock in January of 1828, Moore reported finding only three white and three enslaved professed Christians. A graduate of Princeton Theological Seminary, Moore worked for 45 years as a missionary and minister in Arkansas. Among the churches he established was First Presbyterian of Little Rock. In 1840, Moore relocated his family about 30 miles east of Little Rock to an area he called “Ruralia,” where he established Sylvania Church in 1843. He also established an academy to educate young men.
Presbyterians of all stripes have always supported education. Indeed, in 1821 a Presbyterian named Cephas Washburn established a mission and school for Cherokee Indians living in the vicinity of modern Russellville.
The Presbyterians established their first college, Cane Hill College, in 1834 in the village by that name west of Fayetteville. This was while Arkansas was still a territory. Except for the Civil War, Cane Hill College remained open until 1891, serving as an important educational institution in a time when colleges were few in number. In 1875 it became the first four-year college in the state to admit women into its degree programs. The college relocated to Clarksville in 1891 and eventually became known as the University of the Ozarks.
Perhaps Presbyterians deserve the most recognition for providing educational opportunities for freed slaves following the Civil War. Except for the largest towns, most Arkansas communities did little to educate the freedmen. In the 1880s, the “northern” Presbyterian Church—the denomination split during the Civil War—began organizing academies for black children across the South. In Arkansas, the best-known Presbyterian black school was Cotton Plant Academy in Woodruff County, which was almost completely funded by the Presbyterian women of Illinois. By 1890, the school had 200 students, most being in the elementary grades, but some were working at the secondary level, and a few students boarded at the school. This was the only school in the area that offered high school classes for black students. The famed black pianist and composer Florence Price taught at the academy. It closed in 1950.
Another important Presbyterian school for black students was the Richard Allen Institute in Pine Bluff, established in 1886. Lasting until 1932 after the outbreak of the Great Depression, the institute educated many black citizens, including George E. Haynes, who went on to get a doctorate from Columbia University and become the first executive director of the National Urban League.
Presbyterians were also part of a national movement in the early 1900s to establish “mountain missions” in the isolated southern mountains where public schools usually did not go beyond the eighth grade. Two examples of these schools in Arkansas were the Kingskraft High School in Kingston in Madison County, and the Caddo Valley Academy at Norman in Montgomery County. These schools were especially important in educating girls.
As the Presbyterians of Dardanelle gather today to celebrate the centennial of their church structure, female members can take particular pride in the role played by women in funding the building. These dedicated Presbyterian women even hired themselves out as cotton pickers to raise money.
Tradition has it that many of the merchants in town closed shop in order to watch the women picking cotton. One woman wrote that the men “sat on the rail fence all day, eating at noon from paper bags.” The church was debt-free by the end of 1913.
—–––––
Tom Dillard is a historian and retired archivist living in Farmington, Ark. Email tomd@pgtc.com.
Editorial, Pages 84 on 11/18/2012
Print Headline: Church people
Tuesday, October 30, 2012
What I Read Today - Tuesday - October 30, 2012
From: The New York Times October 29, 2012
The Upside of Opportunism
By DAVID BROOKS
Let’s try to imagine what the world would look like if President Obama is re-elected.
Washington over the next four years would probably look much as it has over the last two: Obama running the White House, Republicans controlling the House and Democrats managing the Senate. We’d have had a long slog of an election before a change-hungry electorate, and we’d end up with pretty much the same cast of characters as before.
Obama would probably try to enact the agenda he laid out most clearly in his recent interview with The Des Moines Register:
Obama said he would try to recreate the Obama-Boehner budget deal of two summers ago, with $2.50 of spending cuts for every $1 in tax increases. Then he’d try immigration reform. Then he’d cut corporate tax rates as part of corporate reform. Then he’d “weed out” unnecessary regulations. All the while, he would implement Obamacare and increase funds for infrastructure. This is a moderate and sensible agenda.
The first order of business would be the budget deal, averting the so-called fiscal cliff. Obama would first go to Republicans in the Senate and say, “Look, we’re stuck with each other. Let’s cut a deal for the sake of the country.” He would easily find 10 Republican senators willing to go along with a version of a Grand Bargain.
Then Obama would go to the House. He’d ask Eric Cantor, the majority leader, if there were votes for such a deal. The answer would probably be no. Republican House members still have more to fear from a primary challenge from the right than from a general election challenge from the left. Obama is tremendously unpopular in their districts. By running such a negative presidential campaign, Obama has won no mandate for a Grand Bargain. Obama himself is not going to suddenly turn into a master legislative craftsman on the order of Lyndon Johnson.
There’d probably be a barrage of recriminations from all sides. The left and right would be consumed with ire and accusations. Legislators would work out some set of fudges and gimmicks to kick the fiscal can down the road.
The ensuing bitterness would doom any hopes for bipartisan immigration reform. The rest of the Obama second term would be about reasonably small things: some new infrastructure programs; more math and science teachers; implementing Obamacare; mounting debt; a president increasingly turning to foreign affairs in search of legacy projects.
If you’re a liberal Democratic, this is an acceptable outcome. Your party spent 80 years building the current welfare state. This outcome extends it.
Now let’s try to imagine the world if Mitt Romney were to win. Republicans would begin with the premise that the status quo is unsustainable. The mounting debt is ruinous. The byzantine tax and regulatory regimes are stifling innovation and growth.
Republicans would like to take the reform agenda that Republican governors have pursued in places like Indiana and take it to the national level: structural entitlement reform; fundamental tax reform. These reforms wouldn’t make government unrecognizable (we’d probably end up spending 21 percent of G.D.P. in Washington instead of about 24 percent), but they do represent a substantial shift to the right.
At the same time, Romney would probably be faced with a Democratic Senate. He would also observe the core lesson of this campaign: conservatism loses; moderation wins. Romney’s prospects began to look decent only when he shifted to the center. A President Romney would look at the way Tea Party extremism had cost the G.O.P. Senate seats in Delaware and Nevada — and possibly Missouri and Indiana.
To get re-elected in a country with a rising minority population and a shrinking Republican coalition, Romney’s shape-shifting nature would induce him to govern as a center-right moderate. To get his tax and entitlement reforms through the Democratic Senate, Romney would have to make some serious concessions: increase taxes on the rich as part of an overall reform; abandon the most draconian spending cuts in Paul Ryan’s budget; reduce the size of his lavish tax-cut promises.
As President Romney made these concessions, conservatives would be in uproar. Talk-radio hosts would be the ones accusing him of Romneysia, forgetting all the promises he made in the primary season. There’d probably be a primary challenge from the right in 2016.
But Republicans in Congress would probably go along. They wouldn’t want to destroy a Republican president. Romney would champion enough conservative reforms to allow some Republicans to justify their votes.
The bottom line is this: If Obama wins, we’ll probably get small-bore stasis; if Romney wins, we’re more likely to get bipartisan reform. Romney is more of a flexible flip-flopper than Obama. He has more influence over the most intransigent element in the Washington equation House Republicans. He’s more likely to get big stuff done.
The Upside of Opportunism
By DAVID BROOKS
Let’s try to imagine what the world would look like if President Obama is re-elected.
Washington over the next four years would probably look much as it has over the last two: Obama running the White House, Republicans controlling the House and Democrats managing the Senate. We’d have had a long slog of an election before a change-hungry electorate, and we’d end up with pretty much the same cast of characters as before.
Obama would probably try to enact the agenda he laid out most clearly in his recent interview with The Des Moines Register:
Obama said he would try to recreate the Obama-Boehner budget deal of two summers ago, with $2.50 of spending cuts for every $1 in tax increases. Then he’d try immigration reform. Then he’d cut corporate tax rates as part of corporate reform. Then he’d “weed out” unnecessary regulations. All the while, he would implement Obamacare and increase funds for infrastructure. This is a moderate and sensible agenda.
The first order of business would be the budget deal, averting the so-called fiscal cliff. Obama would first go to Republicans in the Senate and say, “Look, we’re stuck with each other. Let’s cut a deal for the sake of the country.” He would easily find 10 Republican senators willing to go along with a version of a Grand Bargain.
Then Obama would go to the House. He’d ask Eric Cantor, the majority leader, if there were votes for such a deal. The answer would probably be no. Republican House members still have more to fear from a primary challenge from the right than from a general election challenge from the left. Obama is tremendously unpopular in their districts. By running such a negative presidential campaign, Obama has won no mandate for a Grand Bargain. Obama himself is not going to suddenly turn into a master legislative craftsman on the order of Lyndon Johnson.
There’d probably be a barrage of recriminations from all sides. The left and right would be consumed with ire and accusations. Legislators would work out some set of fudges and gimmicks to kick the fiscal can down the road.
The ensuing bitterness would doom any hopes for bipartisan immigration reform. The rest of the Obama second term would be about reasonably small things: some new infrastructure programs; more math and science teachers; implementing Obamacare; mounting debt; a president increasingly turning to foreign affairs in search of legacy projects.
If you’re a liberal Democratic, this is an acceptable outcome. Your party spent 80 years building the current welfare state. This outcome extends it.
Now let’s try to imagine the world if Mitt Romney were to win. Republicans would begin with the premise that the status quo is unsustainable. The mounting debt is ruinous. The byzantine tax and regulatory regimes are stifling innovation and growth.
Republicans would like to take the reform agenda that Republican governors have pursued in places like Indiana and take it to the national level: structural entitlement reform; fundamental tax reform. These reforms wouldn’t make government unrecognizable (we’d probably end up spending 21 percent of G.D.P. in Washington instead of about 24 percent), but they do represent a substantial shift to the right.
At the same time, Romney would probably be faced with a Democratic Senate. He would also observe the core lesson of this campaign: conservatism loses; moderation wins. Romney’s prospects began to look decent only when he shifted to the center. A President Romney would look at the way Tea Party extremism had cost the G.O.P. Senate seats in Delaware and Nevada — and possibly Missouri and Indiana.
To get re-elected in a country with a rising minority population and a shrinking Republican coalition, Romney’s shape-shifting nature would induce him to govern as a center-right moderate. To get his tax and entitlement reforms through the Democratic Senate, Romney would have to make some serious concessions: increase taxes on the rich as part of an overall reform; abandon the most draconian spending cuts in Paul Ryan’s budget; reduce the size of his lavish tax-cut promises.
As President Romney made these concessions, conservatives would be in uproar. Talk-radio hosts would be the ones accusing him of Romneysia, forgetting all the promises he made in the primary season. There’d probably be a primary challenge from the right in 2016.
But Republicans in Congress would probably go along. They wouldn’t want to destroy a Republican president. Romney would champion enough conservative reforms to allow some Republicans to justify their votes.
The bottom line is this: If Obama wins, we’ll probably get small-bore stasis; if Romney wins, we’re more likely to get bipartisan reform. Romney is more of a flexible flip-flopper than Obama. He has more influence over the most intransigent element in the Washington equation House Republicans. He’s more likely to get big stuff done.
Wednesday, October 24, 2012
What I Read Today - Wednesday October 24, 2012
From: The New York Times - Tuesday October 23, 2012
Our Secret Sauce
By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN
It was striking how much Monday’s presidential debate on foreign policy came down to two subjects: America and the Middle East. The two actually provide some instructive contrasts, starting with one that I’ve noted since the onset of this campaign: the contrast between the high degree of American pluralism and trust that makes our country work, and the near total absence of it in the Middle East, the region most vexing us and most likely to blow up on the next president. Muslims are killing Muslims across the Middle East and Central Asia today: Sunnis versus Shiites, Pashtuns versus Pashtuns and Kurds versus Turks. Christians are not faring well there, either. The absence of pluralism and the prevalence of “rule or die” politics — either my sect or party is in power or I’m dead — is the dominant political trend in the Arab-Muslim region today. Nobody trusts anybody, but it is impossible to build a modern state or an innovation economy without trust. Meanwhile, here in America, we are debating whether to replace our first black president — whose middle name is Hussein and whose grandfather was a Muslim — with a Mormon! Who does that? Nobody else. That radical pluralism is the secret of our sauce, and blessedly so. America, take a bow.
But not for too long.
We have a very special country, but we have to take care of it, not kick it around like it’s a football. And we can’t do that if we’re imitating the Middle East’s rule-or-die politics: my party or scorched earth. Barack Obama has been far from a perfect president. At times, he has treated friends and opponents with arrogance or just a stubborn unwillingness to play the game of politics to co-opt those who needed to be co-opted (he should have embraced the Bowles-Simpson federal debt plan) to get legislation passed. No one would confuse Obama for Lyndon Johnson. But no one would confuse today’s Republican Party for the G.O.P. of the 1960s or 1970s, either.
It is impossible to look at the G.O.P.’s behavior in the last four years — from its unwillingness to consider Obama’s jobs bill, which was praised by independent economists, to the unwillingness of its presidential candidates to consider a $1 increase in taxes for $10 of spending cuts, to the time it spent on sheer lunacy such as questioning the president’s birth certificate — and not conclude that many in the party just wanted Obama to fail in the hope that they could pick up the pieces. Too many Republicans, particularly moderate business types, don’t want to admit how much their party has been led around of late, not by traditional conservatives, but by a radical Tea Party base that has driven decent, smart conservatives — like Bob Bennett of Utah, Bob Inglis of South Carolina, Richard Lugar of Indiana and Olympia Snowe of Maine — out of office.
What I’d say about Obama’s domestic and Middle East policies is that, given the messes and political constraints he inherited in both arenas, he did about as well as anyone could. He kept the homeland safe, prevented us from getting drawn into any sinkholes and killed bad guys. It is not the stuff of foreign policy legend, but it was not bad. I’d say the same at home. He stanched the bleeding in the economy and initiated some smart reforms in education, energy and health — the true effectiveness of which we will only know in the future. It was not exactly the New Deal, but considering the deep hole created by the years of George W. Bush, it also was not a New Depression. A quick turnaround in either arena was never possible.
But while that kind of politics got us through the last four years, it won’t get us through the next four. We cannot have another term of partisan gridlock. We are heading into a world where the breakdown of the European supranational state system, combined with the breakdown of the Arab nation state system, combined with climate change, combined with a much greater global interdependence, means that we will be more and more buffeted by problems that are too dangerous to ignore but too complicated and big to fix alone. And when a country finds itself in that kind of situation, there is one thing it absolutely must do, and that is build resiliency.
We need to weatherproof our house so we can control our destiny and play the vital stabilizing role the world needs us to play. And that leads to another difference between us and the Middle East. We don’t know how to fix their problems anymore. But we do know how to fix our problems. In the short run, we have to invest in infrastructure, education and research — the sources of our strength to stimulate growth — while simultaneously putting in place a credible long-term plan to cut spending and both raise and reform taxes as our economy improves.
Regardless of what they have on their Web sites, neither candidate has spoken honestly to voters in their speeches or commercials about what this will take. Hey, it’s election time. What else is new? Well, there is something new. Just doing as well as our domestic political constraints will allow will not cut it anymore — not given where the global economy, the Middle East and climate change are going. Just doing what the political traffic will bear will not lead us to resiliency. It will lead us to painful, destabilizing vulnerability.
We need a whole new traffic pattern. That will require a president who will dare to challenge the country to do big, hard things together, not just tack with the winds of public opinion, and it will require an electorate that is ready to value and demand such leadership.
Our Secret Sauce
By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN
It was striking how much Monday’s presidential debate on foreign policy came down to two subjects: America and the Middle East. The two actually provide some instructive contrasts, starting with one that I’ve noted since the onset of this campaign: the contrast between the high degree of American pluralism and trust that makes our country work, and the near total absence of it in the Middle East, the region most vexing us and most likely to blow up on the next president. Muslims are killing Muslims across the Middle East and Central Asia today: Sunnis versus Shiites, Pashtuns versus Pashtuns and Kurds versus Turks. Christians are not faring well there, either. The absence of pluralism and the prevalence of “rule or die” politics — either my sect or party is in power or I’m dead — is the dominant political trend in the Arab-Muslim region today. Nobody trusts anybody, but it is impossible to build a modern state or an innovation economy without trust. Meanwhile, here in America, we are debating whether to replace our first black president — whose middle name is Hussein and whose grandfather was a Muslim — with a Mormon! Who does that? Nobody else. That radical pluralism is the secret of our sauce, and blessedly so. America, take a bow.
But not for too long.
We have a very special country, but we have to take care of it, not kick it around like it’s a football. And we can’t do that if we’re imitating the Middle East’s rule-or-die politics: my party or scorched earth. Barack Obama has been far from a perfect president. At times, he has treated friends and opponents with arrogance or just a stubborn unwillingness to play the game of politics to co-opt those who needed to be co-opted (he should have embraced the Bowles-Simpson federal debt plan) to get legislation passed. No one would confuse Obama for Lyndon Johnson. But no one would confuse today’s Republican Party for the G.O.P. of the 1960s or 1970s, either.
It is impossible to look at the G.O.P.’s behavior in the last four years — from its unwillingness to consider Obama’s jobs bill, which was praised by independent economists, to the unwillingness of its presidential candidates to consider a $1 increase in taxes for $10 of spending cuts, to the time it spent on sheer lunacy such as questioning the president’s birth certificate — and not conclude that many in the party just wanted Obama to fail in the hope that they could pick up the pieces. Too many Republicans, particularly moderate business types, don’t want to admit how much their party has been led around of late, not by traditional conservatives, but by a radical Tea Party base that has driven decent, smart conservatives — like Bob Bennett of Utah, Bob Inglis of South Carolina, Richard Lugar of Indiana and Olympia Snowe of Maine — out of office.
What I’d say about Obama’s domestic and Middle East policies is that, given the messes and political constraints he inherited in both arenas, he did about as well as anyone could. He kept the homeland safe, prevented us from getting drawn into any sinkholes and killed bad guys. It is not the stuff of foreign policy legend, but it was not bad. I’d say the same at home. He stanched the bleeding in the economy and initiated some smart reforms in education, energy and health — the true effectiveness of which we will only know in the future. It was not exactly the New Deal, but considering the deep hole created by the years of George W. Bush, it also was not a New Depression. A quick turnaround in either arena was never possible.
But while that kind of politics got us through the last four years, it won’t get us through the next four. We cannot have another term of partisan gridlock. We are heading into a world where the breakdown of the European supranational state system, combined with the breakdown of the Arab nation state system, combined with climate change, combined with a much greater global interdependence, means that we will be more and more buffeted by problems that are too dangerous to ignore but too complicated and big to fix alone. And when a country finds itself in that kind of situation, there is one thing it absolutely must do, and that is build resiliency.
We need to weatherproof our house so we can control our destiny and play the vital stabilizing role the world needs us to play. And that leads to another difference between us and the Middle East. We don’t know how to fix their problems anymore. But we do know how to fix our problems. In the short run, we have to invest in infrastructure, education and research — the sources of our strength to stimulate growth — while simultaneously putting in place a credible long-term plan to cut spending and both raise and reform taxes as our economy improves.
Regardless of what they have on their Web sites, neither candidate has spoken honestly to voters in their speeches or commercials about what this will take. Hey, it’s election time. What else is new? Well, there is something new. Just doing as well as our domestic political constraints will allow will not cut it anymore — not given where the global economy, the Middle East and climate change are going. Just doing what the political traffic will bear will not lead us to resiliency. It will lead us to painful, destabilizing vulnerability.
We need a whole new traffic pattern. That will require a president who will dare to challenge the country to do big, hard things together, not just tack with the winds of public opinion, and it will require an electorate that is ready to value and demand such leadership.
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