Sunday, July 15, 2012

Beyond the Pine Curtain: Political Understanding in the Center of the Universe


This summer has not been a simulation. It has not been a workshop. It has not been a practicum. It has been a real life, everyday immersion into THE political center of the world; a Political Science majors’ dream. It is not necessarily big events that have made me more aware of my political understanding, but rather a culmination of my day to day activities. However, this week many of my observations we’re put into words. This week’s speakers provided me with precious nuggets of wisdom that gave me a lot to reflect upon and often reflected what I witness and think about on a day-to-day basis. Between insights from our speakers and my personal experience in D.C., I can identify two general themes that I have become more aware of as a D.C. resident: there are no obvious “good” and “bad” guys in politics, and when it comes down to it, we’re all just humans.  


I have always prided myself on trying not to think of the world in black and white, as good and bad. In my naiveté, I thought I was much more open-minded. However after coming to D.C., I realized that behind the Pine Curtain I have always unconsciously thought of the political world as a divide between good guys and bad guys. Naively, I thought there were two groups of representatives, lobbyists, and policymakers: those that promoted my interests and those that obstructed my interests from becoming action. This is not always the case. And in many situations, there are many shades of grey. Dr. Shane Smith exemplified this in an anecdote that really stuck with me; Shane provided examples of the divide between rhetoric and action. To set the scene, Shane was discussing nuclear disarmament and the role our last two President’s played in reducing our stockpile of nuclear weapons. As a promoter of nuclear disarmament, in my “good” guys and “bad” guys scenario, I had President Bush pegged as the “bad” guy and President Obama as the “good” guy. However, in terms of action against nuclear disarmament, this was not the case. Shane informed us from his expert perspective, President Bush did more to reduce the nuclear stockpile than any other President, but he communicated his action very poorly with the public. On the other hand, President Obama has done little to reduce the United States nuclear stockpile but based on his speech in Prague and overall communication skills, has led the public to believe he is far more engaged than he actually is through his powerful rhetoric. This opened my eyes to see - for about the millionth time this summer - that politics is far more complicated than simply “good” and “bad.”


In a culmination of moments in my political understanding, I acknowledged big business can have non-profit goals and passion. I was invited to attend the launch of the Global Food Security Index at the National Press Club. The Index was created by the Economist Intelligence Unit, a branch of the publication The Economist, and funded by DuPont. Especially in the agriculture world, there is a definite divide between the perceived motives of big business and the best interests of small-scale farmers. However, at the conference, I acknowledged the genuine passion of DuPont to create a tool to better understand the root cause of food insecurity and develop a means by which small-scale farmers and big-business entrepreneurs can communicate about solutions to end hunger. There was a question from an audience member that addressed whether the motives of DuPont were for philanthropy or profit. This question got me thinking: Does it really matter? Shouldn’t the end product be what is evaluated? It is a question I am still pondering, but once again I was enlightened - “bad” profit-seekers can have “good” guy motives. 


Nate Freier provided me with the most insightful, “ah-ha” advice this week. Nate told us: When it comes down to it, we’re all just human. Wow. This one really hit me. Previously, I had put all policymakers, representatives, bureaucrats, judges - and in the context of Nate’s comment - military advisors, on a pedestal: more intelligent, more worldly, better decision makers, etc. This is true, or hopefully is true, in most cases. However, at the root, we all still make mistakes. We all still have no idea what we’re doing in certain situations. We’re all intimidated by the complexity of the political sphere. We’re all unaware of our paths. We’re all just humans.  


The human aspect of unpredictability was further exemplified by Ashley and Tajel’s realization that there is no one “path” to follow. I, like Ashley and Tajel, am a planner and this was terrifying to hear, especially from two very intelligent and successful women. I want a path. I want a path that directs me to take this step and then this step and then this step and then achieve happiness and success. I have to come to terms with the fact that if I intend on having a career in D.C., this is not and will not be the case. In conclusion, my experience beyond the Pine Curtain has revealed that things are not as by-the-book as academia presents. In the real world of politics, happenstance always accompanies hard work and there are no good guys and bad guys, there are only humans. 

A microscopic outlook


Before I begin this entry, I must preface that I have most recently created a new email folder titled “News” in my Microsoft Outlook and though its content is currently sparse, it is a new folder nonetheless (and I do not make folders without reason). Times are changing, as are my Microsoft Outlook Email folders. Also, I’m realizing that the content of my “Class” folder (containing countless emails from professors and drafts of papers) will expectantly fill with new content in the near future as well. Not just new content in the sense of new class e-mails, but also in the sense that my new classes will reside in new fields considering my change of majors which occurred approximately 3 days ago. Outlook gives proverbial insight into my life and also into how much this summer experience has perhaps changed what messages I will send and receive in the future (It’s all clear now – Microsoft meant for “Outlook” to actually be the proverbially way of looking out on one’s life…).
            Well, the insides of my real, everyday folders of life are currently overflowing with information, so much so that I have had to resort to these email folders I suppose. If I could imagine what I would write on the cover of these three imaginable folders inside my head, one would read “Stuff I think I kind-of understand,” another “Stuff that I don’t really understand but can get by,” and the third most worn-down folder would read “Rats.” It would not read rats just because rats seem to enter their way into my D.C. life quite frequently, but rather because I often says rats as a reaction to something that really doesn’t make sense (or literally… R.A.T.S. could be the equivalence of Really And Truly Shocking… for better or for worse).
            Would it be correct to say that as my folders have grown, I have grown as well? That is neither here nor there. Rather, what is here, is the concrete:
            I can say that I can now give insight into contemporary Cuba, which Congress members are for and which are against the end of the 53-year-old trade embargo and travel ban, and my own personal opinion regarding our U.S. policy on Cuba. When my email receives every Google alert that’s written on “Cuba” (even those regarding Cuba Gooding Jr., not to mention Cuba, Missouri), it would be an unfortunate situation had I not acquired this taste and insight on Cuba. On another work note, I have acquired a taste for Mexico, Colombia, Honduras, and other Latin American countries as well. The flavor has been quite bold, strong, consistent, and often times unfulfilling in the sense that there does not seem to be a way to make the taste less distasteful.
            Another budding flavor is the fact that I sent an email to the registrar at a ripe 3 a.m. Friday morning notifying them that I was changing my major. Although keeping my Hispanic Studies major, I am dropping my 3-year-long English major as to make room for more international relations courses. Indeed I have drank the international relations Kool-Aid, and will be drinking more into the next year. Maybe I have drunken too much too fast, especially in light of a seminar week with speakers who work in foreign policy, and it sure is an addictive taste. I will “cheers” to my new decision and only hope that I will be “cheers-ing” at the end of next year.
            The cherry on top on all of this savory food would have to be the people I’m surrounded by and how much flavor they add to each day here. I’m not just talking about the people at hearings, the professionally dressed in the streets, nor the senator living next door. Rather, I’m talking about those other 14 CSB/SJU students in this program. The ones who inspire me each day to learn more, to succeed, to follow my passion as they are all so clearly doing. I love meeting people who truly love what they do, and being around that each day when I come home from work could not bring a better environment to learn what motivates them, what they are working toward, and what they are hoping lies in store for them in their futures. These Bennies and Johnnies walking on their own paths, have shared some of it with me for the time being and have left me to discover politics like they have. This means reading, asking questions, promoting lively discussion, and then living out what they believe in each day. Talk about leaving a taste in one’s mouth (in this case one that is most tasty and conducive for growth… like a fine wine perhaps).
            So with a priceless food that touches the taste buds and the soul, possibly being thought of as cookie dough (Sometimes it makes you sick, but you eat it anyway. You only eat it when you’re very sad or very happy and never regret it. Not to get all mushy, but the care that goes into making cookie dough with loved ones really determines whether a batch is good or not), I certainly feel full at the end of a day. There are never enough folders for the amount of learning that takes place, both on the work site learning about foreign policy issues and when I come home to learn about what all these other characters learned about during their days. It is with thanks to folders, taste buds, and great people that I am able to process this D.C. world, and I cannot express more thanks. All that made this possible are very much appreciated.
            Have I grown by being here? How does one measure growth? In money, stature, laughter, or how about silence? It is in those moments of silence where I truly taste a moment that I have grown the most. Perhaps it is a silence “rats” moment. And with that, cheers to the hum of the air conditioning and more silence to come.