You Get What You Pay For

Today, almost the only people who failed to lose money were the ones who had none to lose.  Needless to say, finger pointing has been rampant.

Turn on the TV, listen to the radio, look at a newspaper.  Blame is cast at the Republicans and the Democrats, Wall Street and lenders, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.  And - those who blame them are correct.  All are culpable.

Yet one more component of the blame is missing:  us.  We are the ones who thought we could perfect the world.  We want to extend homeownership to everyone, irrespective of their ability to pay and manage.  We want everyone to have a secure retirement, state-of-the-art healthcare, superlative educations.  We want safety in our neighborhoods and in the world.

What we don't seem to want is to find the wisdom and ability to elect people who will have the courage to do the best they can for us - and then let us know that the best, by definition, will be woefully short.

Tonight, I read this column.  It is written by Taylor Stockdale, the son of Admiral James Stockdale.

You may not remember Admiral Stockdale.  I do, however, as I voted for him.  He was the vice presidential candidate who ran with Ross Perot.

I am going to do something I rarely do.  I am going to copy Mr. Stockdale's column in its entirety, in the hopes that all who stop by here will read it in full.  My purpose is not to convince those of you who failed to vote for Perot and Stockdale that you did the wrong thing. In retrospect, I wonder if I did the right thing in casting my vote for Perot.

No, my purpose in highlighting this column is to demonstrate how too many of us in our country - and around the world - worship that which is quick and easy and flashy and essentially worth little, instead of that which is deep and meaningful and worthy of our respect and valuable.  The sacrifices that Admiral Stockdale made for his nation are what we should applaud.  People like the Admiral are the sort of people we ought to have serving our nation in Washington - instead of people who cheat the American people and then try to lay blame at the feet of others after they do so.

If you don't like the people you see serving in our government, you might wonder why they are there.  They are there because too many of us lie and cheat about people who attempt to run for office.  They are there because too many of us refuse to stand up to the lies and the cheating. They are there becasue too many of us are little interested in becoming educated about government and current events, in giving back to our nation and in making sacrifices of any sort.

I remember seeing Admiral Stockdale in the debate - and I remember how he was derided and mocked and spit out after it all.  We were seeing a real American hero - and he was given less respect and consideration than some average guy off the street.

So, after you listen to the millions of words spilled today, and read your favorite publications and blogs, and chat amongst your friends, remember that those who govern us and those who are Captains of Industry are only part of the problem.  The rest of us facilitate the rot - and until we change, finding people of character to lead us will be one tough reveal.

• SEPTEMBER 30, 2008

Debates Don't Always Reveal Character

My father was a model American.

By TAYLOR B. STOCKDALE

As Sarah Palin and Joe Biden prepare for Thursday's vice presidential debate, I am pulled back to the last time an unknown candidate appeared on the national stage in such a forum. It was 1992, when my father (John McCain's senior officer in Vietnam), Adm. James B. Stockdale, appeared on stage to debate Al Gore and Dan Quayle.

Anyone over 30 will probably remember the spectacle. Messrs. Gore and Quayle were engaged in a bitter battle when, late in the race, my father accepted Ross Perot's invitation to be his running mate. That decision created a rare, three person vice-presidential debate.

In an attempt to introduce himself to the American people, my father began with the philosophical questions "Who am I? Why am I here?" But as the evening wore on, he struggled.

Watching that debate from the front row in Atlanta was a surreal experience. My father, a bona fide war hero, was trying to adapt to a format of discourse utterly foreign to him.

The debate hall was noisy, hot and nasty. My mom took a bad fall just before coming out to sit down. She, the strongest woman I know, broke into tears as she was overcome with emotion. Her four sons tried to console her.

Messrs. Gore and Quayle had arrived with armies of political handlers and were sequestered in large, lavish rooms to prepare for their one night to show each other up. My dad arrived with his family and one coach at the last minute. We were put in an RV just off the stage.

Dad entered the race reluctantly, and only due to the deep gratitude he had for the aid Mr. Perot extended to him and my mom while he was a prisoner of war in Vietnam.

As everyone saw that evening, he was not a politician. He was a fighter-pilot ace, a Medal of Honor recipient, and a wonderful dad and human being. During his eight years as a POW, he slit his scalp and beat his face with a stool to prevent his captors from parading him in the streets for propaganda purposes. He gave starving men his food rations when he himself was starving. And at home, after his release in 1973, he was a respected leader, scholar and writer. He considered himself a philosopher.

He studied the Greeks -- specifically Epictetus, an ancient slave and stoic who espoused the idea that individuals have free will and absolute autonomy over all matters within their control. He believed we must not wallow in self-pity when the chips are down, but rather recognize that we have the power to choose how to respond to everything.

My father adopted this philosophy while a graduate student at Stanford University in the early 1960s. So he never took pity on himself -- ever. Not as a POW when he was tortured, forced to wear leg irons and to live in solitary confinement. And not after the debate. He knew he had put himself into that arena.

And yet on this particular evening in 1992, the country saw someone who looked confused and weak. Without knowing who he was or what he did for his country, most Americans turned off their TV sets and formed an opinion of him based on a 90-minute debate.

So while Mrs. Palin's background and political acumen are completely different from my father's, she and her family are going through an experience I recognize. They are trying to define themselves in a short time-span, within a loaded political context.

From personal experience, I doubt if someone can really be known in this type of atmosphere, and I empathize with her family members who suddenly have to explain things that shouldn't need explanation.

As for my dad, this will mark the first vice presidential debate since he died in 2005. I've wanted to write about it for a long time, but he wouldn't let me. Now I want to set the record straight: He was an example of what this country should be all about.

Mr. Stockdale, the son of Adm. James B. Stockdale

Comments

[Ned Barnett]

As someone who used to "dabble" in Presidential politics (I headed up state-level media and strategy for - at various times - Ford, Perot, before he dropped out, and Clinton - after Perot had dropped out), I am deeply grateful for this editorial. Admiral Stockdale was not well-served by the American media (or by the format of the debates) and therefore not by the American people. He gave better, and he deserved better. However, he was clearly the kind of man who put no stock in how people mis-read him; he was not defined by how others saw him, but rather by how he saw himself. He set an incredibly high bar, and as few men have done, he clearly lived up to his own expectations of himself.

I have no idea if he'd have made a good Vice President - I'm sure, however, that he knew when he accepted Perot's invitation that he was unlikely to have the chance to find that out. However, he proved himself to be the kind of man America desperately needs - a man of skill, courage, intelligence and character - to defend this country from those who know nothing of courage, honor or character.

To Taylor Stockdale - sir, in this column, you honor your father in a way he deserves. And you honor America by helping us better know the man who set an example wherever he went. In the best possible way, the man you portrayed reminds me of fellow fighter ace and Medal of Honor winner, Joe Foss. Whenever I'm faced with a crisis bigger than I know how to handle, I ask myself, "What would Joe Foss do?" Now, I'll ask "What would General Foss or Admiral Stockdale do?" I'm sure the answers I get will be all the guidance I need.

With great respect and appreciation

Ned Barnett - Las Vegas

[Mary Morrow]

Admiral Stockdale has been a hero in my mind since he first appeared on TV in the infamous debate. We all should take these comments by his son to remind us of the infighting of the present times is but hollow chatter of unprincipaled peoples. It is time to say ENOUGH.. M. Morrow