Terry Newell is currently director of his own firm, Leadership for a Responsible Society. His work focuses on values-based leadership, ethics, and decision making. A former Air Force officer, Terry also previously served as Director of the Horace Mann Learning Center, the training arm of the U.S. Department of Education, and as Dean of Faculty at the Federal Executive Institute. Terry is co-editor and author of The Trusted Leader: Building the Relationships That Make Government Work (CQ Press, 2011). He also wrote Statesmanship, Character and Leadership in America (Palgrave Macmillan, 2013) and To Serve with Honor: Doing the Right Thing in Government (Loftlands Press 2015).
All in Governing Ourselves
In Election 2022, neither Democrats nor Republicans could claim a clear victory. But the qualities of character that have built America did win.
Ukraine faces a winter without heat and water due to Russian bombing. The West faces the challenge of whether they will step up to protect democracy - and not just in Ukraine.
Dissatisfaction among Americans have led some to want a very powerful leader - a strongman - who can correct our ills. That’s a dangerous path.
Our fascination with whether a president is up or down in polls leads to short-term thinking - and thinking biases - that may harm the nation’s long-term needs.
The Constitution promises to “insure domestic Tranquility,” yet America is an increasingly untranquil society..
In rushing to help Ukraine defend itself, we must also ask important questions to ensure that laudable goal does not lead to a much wider war.
A democratic society depends on a moral attachment to the rule of law and an insistence on blind justice.
Good political arguments are essential in a democracy. Too many Americans don’t have the skills needed.
We regulate commercial firms, but there is a large “hate industry” in America that operates under free speech protections with too few controls.
Is government failing us so much - or are we expecting more than our government was designed to do?
Americans tell pollsters that the nation is on “the wrong track,” but that view can trap us into ways of thinking that make “right track” progress so much harder.
The poor and nearly-poor must organize to vote in greater numbers. Without doing so, they will continue to be ignored.
The Constitutional and historical barrier separating the military from partisan politics is weakening. Strengthening it is essential for preserving our democracy.
Americans who divide themselves from their countrymen for selfish interests, ideology and political gain ignore our founders hopes, weakening the national union on which our freedom depends.
The power of statesmanship increases when leaders can marshal the power of brevity in what they write and say.
On the surface, lotteries to encourage COVID vaccination seem like a great idea. Below the surface, it’s useful to raise some questions.
America must reckon with the history of those who were denied freedom in 1776 and redress the persisting evils of slavery and the decimation of our Native American population.
Majorities may pass voting laws, but when those laws are unjust, the winners of elections forfeit the legitimacy to govern.
Political lies are certainly not new, yet many believe them despite the evidence. Leaders good at using individual and group psychology make this dangerous for democracy.
