John Gardner, former President of the Carnegie Corp., U.S. Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare, and head of the National Coalition, gave the 1968 commencement address at Cornell University. In his speech he said, “Pity the leader caught between unloving critics and uncritical lovers.” As he went on to say, leaders and institutions caught between these two types of people will certainly perish. We are seeing that very thing playing out in the political realm today. Gardner knew it was happening fifty years ago, and we haven’t necessarily learned much in the years since.
Gardner’s thoughts on this apply well to all kinds of institutions and leaders. I learned about it in terms of the institutional church. It is a teaching tool for me each year when I sit down with Vestry nominating committees. I share part of Gardner’s remarks at the outset of our process to select candidates for the ballot. We try not to nominate uncritical lovers – those who tend to automatically go along with whatever the leader (Rector) or the prevailing winds (Vestry majority) seem to want. Nor do we want to nominate unloving critics, who like to vote no, as a matter of course, or who don’t care about the institution so much as their own agenda, and therefore ignore what might be best for the larger whole, or the long term health of the organization.
The ideal candidate falls somewhere in the middle, one of the sort that Gardner called the loving critics. These are the people who love the institution so much that they will approach decisions thoughtfully so that discussion and discernment can truly lead to the best outcome. These people are neither “yes people” nor “no people”; they are never “platform people”. Instead, they process each opportunity, listen to the wisdom of others on both sides of a debate, and then humbly make their minds up for themselves. I’m happy to say we’ve been doing well as Vestry ballots go, but I regret the same cannot be said with regard to the average citizen when it comes to politics.
We find ourselves in a situation where we have the least popular person ever elected president in the modern era (according to approval ratings), and who lost the popular vote by the largest margin in the modern era. We find that large swaths of people fall into two categories as a result; those who see a mandate for this president, despite the numbers, and those who are sure he is an illegitimate president (something we’ve taken to doing with all of our presidents in recent decades). The danger we face is that some will see nothing bad or troubling in this new president’s actions, and others will see nothing good. There is no way forward in such a situation. That, in and of itself, will create even more division.
The uncritical lovers are the ones who turn a blind eye to unpleasant accusations or ignore the things that they don’t like, while the unloving critics cannot see any benefit in any decisions or choices of an administration with which they want to disagree. Patriotism falls easily into both categories for many; either you’re a patriot when you criticize an opposing administration and seek to deny and thwart progress on an agenda, or you’re a patriot when you stand with the President and join in attacking those who want to undermine the sacred office of Commander in Chief. One patriot yells, “Support our president,” while another screams, “Not my president.” It is amazing how many camps flip-flop, depending on who sits in the Oval Office.
True patriotism, as near as I can tell, belongs to the critical lovers. Patriotism belongs to those who love their country more than any one person or party; those who love their fellow Americans and want to see every American flourish under prosperity, liberty, and freedom; those who think critically about public policy and political decisions, instead of getting caught up in platforms and partisan grandstanding. True patriotism does not look at what is best for me and my party right now, it looks at what is best for all of us over the long term. Patriotism asks what decisions we can make that will ensure that our Republic endures for generations to come. To work that hard and that selflessly, it must be a labor of love.
Gardner admitted in his speech that, “the swifter the pace of change, the more lovingly men [must] care for and criticize their institutions, to keep them intact through the turbulent passages.” I think it’s safe to say the pace of change has picked up in the last couple of decades, and instead of caring for and criticizing our institutions more lovingly, we’ve gone the other way. We only trust those in our camp or that which supports our viewpoints. We don’t need facts when feelings will suffice.
If we are one of the sort who is most likely to turn a blind eye to the failings of our party or our candidate, this is a season to take the blinders off. This is the time to pay very close attention to what it going on and what the long-term ramifications may be. If we are one of the sort who is unable to find even a silver lining in the current state of affairs, we must chase the rainclouds away and seek some way to make the best of where things are. It’s rarely the case that things are all darkness or all light; we must look for the light where we can find it and call out the darkness wherever we find it.
All of us must strive to be critical lovers of our nation, its institutions, its leaders, and its democratic processes. And above all we must be prayerful about our role as critical lovers. Pray for the nation; pray for our president and all our elected officials; pray for our neighbors – the ones we like and the ones we don’t. And we must pray for ourselves, that we would always seek the good, the just, and the righteous, even when it costs us something to do so. If we cannot do these things faithfully and with integrity, we may undermine and kill the very things we hope to foster and preserve. Pity the leader, the government, the nation, the community, the future caught between unloving critics and uncritical lovers.
Tom+
O Lord our Governor, whose glory is in all the world: We commend this nation to your merciful care, that being guided by your Providence, we may dwell secure in your peace. Grant to the President of the United States, the Governor of this State, and to all in authority, wisdom and strength to know and to do your will. Fill them with the love of truth and righteousness, and make them ever mindful of their calling to serve this people in your fear; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, world without end. Amen. BCP p. 820