John Adams and the Government Shutdown

Our family reads aloud at the dinner table after meals, the current selection being John Adams: Revolutionary Writings 1775 – 1783.  The volume consists mainly of letters written during the years when Adams and the other founders were in Philadelphia putting together a government that would serve the people of the American colonies.

I have ever thought it the most difficult and dangerous part of the business Americans have to do in this mighty contest, to contrive some method for the colonies to glide insensibly from under the old government into a peaceable and contented submission to new ones.

Adams’ letters reflect the commitment these men felt to creating a form of government that would work for the people.  They negotiated and argued fervently among themselves about how such a government should be constituted – what class of people should get the vote, how to give the individual states autonomy within a single nation, what tenure to give elected officials and so on.  But they felt a strong sense of common purpose.

There must be a positive passion for the public good, the public interest, honor, power and glory, established in the minds of the people, or there can be no republican government, nor any real liberty.

Can’t help but wonder what John Adams would have thought about today’s impasse in Congress and the shutdown of our government.

Partisanship is inevitable, and maybe necessary, in a democracy.  What has changed is the sense of common purpose and the passion for the public good. 

I’m not sure what it would take to make us feel once again part of the same team.

But, like John Adams, I think both our liberty and our very form of government are put at risk when we consider only our own needs and preferences and lose our focus on the common good.  

Committee for Dish Access

Please join those of us from the Peninsula who want to continue to have access to Stanford’s Dish hiking trail.  As you may know (http://www.paloaltoonline.com/news/show_story.php?id=30977), Stanford is planning to eliminate over half the parking spots on Stanford Avenue and substitute parking on Coyote Hill Road, south of Page Mill and a good half mile from the Dish gate.

Two community meetings have been held on this subject, but few Dish walkers have shown up.  The audience consisted largely of Stanford neighbors who are tired of so much traffic on Stanford Avenue and on their streets.

Stanford Community Relations will take additional comments on this subject before it goes to County of Santa Clara for approval at communityrelations@Stanford.edu.  Please let them know that you care about access to the Dish and appreciate the health benefits of Stanford’s beneficence, but that Coyote Hill Road is too far from the gate and too cumbersome to cross busy Page Mill and walk so far along Junipero Serra before hitting the first hill.  You can ask Stanford Community Relations to be put on their mailing list for information about Dish parking.

Also we have formed a Committee for Dish Access and hope you will consent to joining our email list by sending an email to CommitteeforDishAccess@gmail.com.  This will not result in your name or email address being sent to anyone else without your consent.  It just enables us to keep you informed and to organize the community if future opportunities come up for your input.

If people who hike the Dish don’t speak up, we could find ourselves without access to this wonderful space.

PLEASE FORWARD THIS LINK TO FRIENDS WHO MAY BE INTERESTED IN DISH ACCESS.

Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World that Can't Stop Talking

America’s love affair with extroverts began in the early part of the 20^th century, when people like Dale Carnegie impressed upon our parents the importance of winning friends and influencing people in order to be successful. 

But our cultural preference for extroversion was not always a part of our national psyche.  In the 19^th century, America judged leadership potential the same way many countries do today – on the basis of integrity, judgment, reliability and intelligence.

The emerging growth cultures of Asia are not the only places in the world today puzzled by the America’s continuing obsession with popularity and by our insistence upon turning over most of our elective offices, executive management positions and financial control to people who would rather talk than listen, who make quick decisions based on gut instinct and who prefer risk to contemplation.

Susan Cain’s defense of introverts, Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking weaves together research and personal anecdotes to make a case for taking a second look at the value brought to relationships and organizations by our quieter, more sensitive citizens.

She challenges the corporate focus on team building, open space offices and endless meetings, recounting histories of influential leaders who had a preference to work alone and in quiet.  She is surprised that scarcely an introvert is to be found on the hallowed grounds of Harvard Business School and wonders whether Enron or the economic collapse of the housing market would have happened if the investment banks had put in positions of responsibility fewer talkers and more thinkers.

 Ms. Cain’s chapter on raising sensitive children provides useful guidance to parents of children who don’t easily adjust to the forced extroversion of years of schooling in an environment better suited to outgoing personalities.

I’m not generally a fan of self-help books or psychological non-fiction.  I listened to the audio version of this book while running errands.  But Susan Cain is insightful and perceptive, and this book is worth reading.  

August Special!

The first 25 people to purchase a copy of One Summer in Arkansas from Amazon.com during the month of August will receive an additional, signed copy of the novel delivered to the recipient of your choice. Not only will you end the summer with a great read, you will be able to share an amazing story with a friend or family member at no charge! Simply email your date of purchase on Amazon along with the name and address of the gift recipient to Marciakempsterling@sonic.net and we'll mail a signed copy of One Summer in Arkansas to the book lover of your choice! Happy Reading!

Summertime

Summer is the season for family and vacation, so my focus on selling books has been set aside for the moment.

I’m on a flight back to the Bay Area after a week in Boston for our annual Uniform Law Conference.  Since Nat is a commissioner and has to be there, he booked a flight, while I’m travelling standby, one of the perks associated with having a pilot in the family.  Note to parents:  Make sure that at least one of your kids pursues a career flying for a commercial airline. 

Our speaker at the ULF dinner this year was Doris Kearns Goodwin, discussing the Lincoln presidency, a topic of much interest to our conference of lawyers.

We arrive home with only a week to prepare for Cousin Camp, the annual gathering of our clan when our children and grandchildren make their way to Palo Alto from all over the world.  It’s always interesting to have 22 people in your house for a week, but this year will be special, culminating in Deb and Steve’s wedding in the backyard.  Arts and crafts at Cousin Camp will be devoted entirely to wedding decorations this year.

All five granddaughters will participate in the ceremony, providing a charming pink backdrop for our beautiful bride.

Mental Illness and Violence

Last week we went over to Stanford to hear a discussion on mental illness and crime co-sponsored by the law school and the medical school.

Our society faces increasing pressure from a growing number of mentally ill people, many manifesting a lethal blend of mental disorder and addiction and either living on the streets or filling up our jails.

For me, the discussion at Stanford raised more questions than it answered.

In the same way that our educators are learning that every kid has “special needs” associated with his unique way of learning, is it possible that most human beings have unique mental issues, some of which are at odds with societal expectations?

Is it possible that most criminal acts (not just the typical over-the-top acts of violence) reflect a breakdown of mental process, whether it’s impulse control, ability to link action to outcome, fear, anger, anxiety or delusion?

How does the legal system distinguish between the insanity defense for a crime (inability to understand the consequences, right from wrong, etc.) from terrorism (an erroneous belief that an act will be rewarded in heaven)?

Of course, at the end of the day, the extent to which the legal system accommodates to psychiatrically-defined mental illness depends on how a legislature views the goals of criminal punishment:

            Getting a dangerous person off the streets?

            Making a role model out of him so someone else won’t do the same thing?

            Rehabilitating him so that he can become a useful citizen?

            Making him pay for what he did?

I don’t have any answers, but I think there is a problem.  Most mentally ill people do not commit crimes.  Our society has decided we should not institutionalize people against their will if they are not an immediate threat.  But leaving people to live on the streets is not a great solution.