Forget W. - It's All Tip O'Neill's Fault!

By Mitchell

OK, one more Katrina post. Many times I've remembered Tip O'Neill's famous comment that "All politics is local," but I'd completely forgotten how applicable it is when discussing the mess that is Katrina.

Fortunately, Herb Ely didn't forget about it, and he reminds us how this maxim led to so many problems and so much pain. I like the idea of throwing the words of one of the Democrats' icons right back at them; but what really made an impression with me was the end of Herb's post, a paragraph that links back to a piece of his that I liked very much, discussing Gregory Pierce's "Spirituality at Work":

One of his ten spiritual disciplines is making the system work, i.e. striving to improve our own business, government agency, or non-profit so that it is true to its mission. This means acknowledgeing and asking God’s help in overcoming shortcomings in ourselves and our institutions.

Boy, isn't that the truth! I've gotten in trouble at places I've worked over the years for trying to hold them to that standard, and I've also gotten in trouble at other times by not holding myself to that same standard. Some people think this kind of talk is all empty intellectualizing, but Herb, through his discussion of Pierce's piece, shows how you not only can but must make it a part of life. Would that more people took it that seriously.