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When Aretha Franklin died in 2018, accolades and condolences seared the airwaves. Trying to describe the ethos of her voice is an impossible task since in order to adequately do so requires a personal experience of listening and feeling. Grounded in the faith and strength of gospel, Aretha’s majesty grew from conviction and a foundation of support, friendship and belief in a common good.
Aretha’s strength of character extended much farther than individual impacts. Our communities too are formed and solidified when neighbors recognize the essential aspect of cooperation and effort toward common goals. Although much is said and done in the spirit of “transactional” relationships, not all in life is represented by a political “zero sum” game of only winners and losers. The aphorism, “a rising tide lifts all boats” can be applied in a larger context to include our communities and personal relationships.
Will a larger, universal code of conduct, rejecting “situational ethics,” prevail in an atmosphere of partisan and pay-as-you-go politics? For example, how will cities respond to the crushing pressure by the State of California to create more housing, with little regard to concomitant negative environmental effects of traffic congestion, overcrowding and reduction of services? As lawmakers rise through the bureaucracy of government, becoming more insulated from local issues, a balance of competing concerns is viewed through a different lens, either distorted or clarified, depending on context.
A spirit of communal support and respect is not without historical foundation. When the American colonies broke free from England in 1776, Thomas Paine wrote, “These are the times that try men’s souls” He was speaking of a deep conviction that would not yield to the temptation of ease and surrender, rather faith in the common sense and good intentions of fellow citizens who recognized that self-preservation could not be accomplished by selfish interests to the exclusion of fellow patriots.
In the 1960s, Aretha belted out her rendition of Otis Redding’s RESPECT and her hit composition THINK as a signal to all of us – men and women of all economic status, faith, color and creed, to work together for a future that elevates everyone, rather than one group at the expense of another. This is important at all levels of government. The horse-trading mentality of transactional politics may bring short-term benefits but when applied to long-term goals and aspirations, can end up woefully short. It often falls upon the shoulders of our elected representatives to decide between competing interests, all with some measure of validity, with reference to quality of the result rather than a measured return of an economic marketplace. As we approach the General Election in November, it is a reminder that our forefathers believed in individual rights and responsibilities with the goal of “a more perfect union.”
In a 1997 speech entitled Transactional Politics in the Public Sector by Patricia Sto. Thomas [former chairperson of the Philippine Civil Service Commission], at the Fourth Asia-Pacific Congress of Women in Politics, addressed the attraction of political populist sentiments with a quote from politician Charles Hartman of Montana in 1896:
” …It is true that the Populist Party has a number of different remedies for the situation. I am advised that they are about to add three more planks to their platform. One of them is to make a cross between the firefly and the honeybee for the purpose of enabling the honeybee to work at night. Another, that of breeding the centipede with the pig for the purpose of having a hundred hams to each animal. I am also told they have a further visionary scheme of budding strawberries and cream from the same plant.”
Thomas adds, “As Mr. Hartman ably demonstrates, most politicians make a living out of hyperbole. That is, when they are not dazzling us with prognostications of the future. For what was once an exercise in sarcasm for Mr. Hartman turned out to be prophetic. Today we have cows that have been cloned, orchids from the tissue culture and transplanted human organs. Not quite like lighted honeybees or hogs with a hundred legs but then, even politicians are not perfect.”
And, as Aretha says in her song, Think:
People walking around everyday
Playing games and taking scores
Trying to make other people lose their minds
Well, be careful, you’re goin’ to lose yours
Oh, think (think)
Think about what you’re trying to do to me
Reference:
1997 – Transactional Politics in the Public Sector by Patricia Sto. Tomas: delivered at the Fourth Asia-Pacific Congress of Women in Politics held on 1-3 September 1997 at Taipei. http://www.capwip.org/resources/tomas/TomasPaper.html
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