What does soulful leadership look like in the current healthcare debate in the U.S.? How can elected officials and ordinary citizens provide real leadership in moving the debate forward?
The United States was founded upon the principle of participative democracy, a principle that assumes that wisdom emerges from the careful consideration of differing points of view. In order for participative democracy to work, informed citizens must engage in respectful discussion with one another and with their elected officials.
The past several weeks have witnessed the degeneration of town meetings on healthcare into shouting matches, with some who oppose President Obama’s proposal for healthcare reform engaging in disruptive tactics designed to derail the debate. Quite apart from the issue of healthcare reform itself, such tactics are morally wrong.
Why? First, these tactics silence other voices, usually the majority of the attendees at a town hall meeting. The purpose of a town meeting is to hear representative viewpoints of all who gather. It is morally wrong to intentionally silence the voices of those with differing viewpoints. Second, these tactics erode the possibility of advancing the discussion and coming to a real solution. No matter what their position on healthcare reform, the vast majority of Americans agree that the current system isn’t working. While their preferred solutions to the healthcare crisis may differ, all Americans deserve accurate information and respectful debate. And all Americans have the right to constructive meetings that help illuminate the questions and move toward answers. It is a waste of everyone’s time and taxpayers’ money when town meetings don’t draw on the wisdom of differing perspectives to move toward constructive solutions.
Leaders have a moral obligation to create a safe space for all perspectives to be heard and considered. Recently, Texas Congressman Al Green demonstrated soulful leadership in the town meeting he held on healthcare reform. He began the meeting by asking the nearly thousand-member crowd to vote on some “housekeeping” questions:
-- Should we hear from members of the public?
-- How many would like to ask questions? Please stand. In order to give more people a chance, should we limit the questions or statements to two minutes? Should we kill the mike if they go significantly over?
-- If they continue to holler, should we ask them to leave so others can be heard?
-- Should I begin with an opening statement?
After the group voted “aye” on every question, Green followed through by asking those who had questions to write them on index cards (along with their zip codes) and then he selected cards randomly from a bowl. He asked the audience to clap for each questioner before they knew the person’s viewpoint. Then he gave each questioner two minutes at a roving mike held by a volunteer who pulled the mike away when the time was up.
The result? A civil town meeting in which different viewpoints were heard and citizens got a lesson in respecting those who differed from them.
In the weeks ahead, with Congress back in session, the health care debate will continue to heat up. Leaders would do well to ask, “How can I learn from Al Green’s example?” Citizens would do well to ask, “How can I influence my legislators to create structures and processes that will ensure respectful and meaningful debate? How can I further constructive discussion among my friends and acquaintances, both with those with whom I agree and with those with whom I disagree?”
Who Americans become as individuals and as a country through the process of the healthcare debates may be just as important as what we create as a final product through them.
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Sarah Palin resigns: what’s next for her soul?
Bernard Madoff’s soul (and ours)
For more info: Margaret Benefiel, Ph.D., author of Soul at Work and The Soul of a Leader, works with leaders in healthcare, business, churches, government and non-profits to help them stay true to their souls. Visit her website.
Comments
Yes, the man with the finger bitten in half is a prime example of how ugly people can get.
Congressman Green reminds us that solutions to complex problems can be beautifully simple though they are seldom easy.
Margaret, thanks for bringing this to light so eloquently.
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