Comments on: Leadership Under Fire: Working for the Common Good

By: Tim Deuitch

Tim Deuitch — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 15:47:15 +0000

Thoughts that place baseball in the context of common good will always get my attention. Nice job Brian! I’m normally a conservative thinker but always nuance minded (I try) , and my idiologically tight friends have always been mysified by my desire for public support of stadiums, theatres, companies, and other public venues.

Leaders do shape our greater good (good schools and public venues), and sometimes our greater bad (failing infrastructure). It’s the greater good efforts that seem to take the true will of a leader – the ability to face the negative music from both foes and fans. It was sad to watch the last legislative session produce no meaningful plan from the legislative majority and then our Governor punt the problem forward. No collective leadership emerged so we’ll wait and remain disenchanted. I fear the same for health care.

In Target Field, it’s great to see and celebrate a visible measure of leadership and to soon watch fans and detractors of the field take their seats next year. It gives me hope and resolve to raise the same expectations on the even more difficult challenges ahead.

By: J Forrest

J Forrest — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 15:44:25 +0000

Brian,
Well said. Target Field is a Common Good that will be shared by members of our region for years to come. Also, your homerun call is excellent. During the ticket selection process, I was able to get some seats in the left field bleachers (a common landing spot for Mauer homeruns). As an interesting comparison, these seats I selected are less expensive in Target Field than they were in the Metrodome.

By: Chad Brown

Chad Brown — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 10:49:39 +0000

Where do we have the necessary conversations and dialog to move away from polarizing activities and more toward nuanced understanding and solutions that work for all? In our media-blitzed world, discourse and dialog based on fact, argument and listening are becoming lost. Unfortunately the “shouters” and “haters” sell television and advertising. Rationale debate doesn’t.

By: Steve Francisco

Steve Francisco — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 19:36:29 +0000

Oops! In my previous comment, I meant to refer to Representative Tim WALZ — not former Representative Tim Penny.

By: Steve Francisco

Steve Francisco — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 19:34:11 +0000

Nice job Brian! My only comment is that I think you’re being too generous toward the “shouters” who are showing up at the town hall meetings on health care reform. Their behavior is profoundly anti-democratic. They are not only telling the nation and the world what public policies they oppose but they don’t want anyone else to hear information that could help people make up their mind one way or the other. I saw an example of this on August 4 at Farmfest in Redwood Falls. I watched and listened as a “shouter” stood up to denounce Representative Tim Penny for supporting health care reform. She asked the congressman several questions which Rep. Walz then went on to answer. But apparently she was never really interested in an answer to her questions as she got up and left.

Beyond the “shouters” is another category of people that I call the “haters.” They exhibit an almost pathological hatred of any point of view with which they disagree and hatred of any elected official, especially President Obama, who may have a different point of view. Some have even gone so far as to express their hope that the President or other elected officials be killed. The process of making public policy is not the exclusive privilege of any political leader, political party or group of people who have passion for any issue. The process belongs to all of us as Americans. It is our birthright to express ourselves, to agree, to disagree, but above all, to be free.

By: Bob

Bob — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 17:23:40 +0000

Good point!