Sermons on the Hill

In which our man in Washington checks out various political preachers

From the June 1999 issue

(Page 3 of 3)

"We know we're making progress," he said, starting his wrap-up, a failed attempt to emulate the rhythm and intonation of, let's say, Jesse Jackson. "We know how much farther we have to go. And we know that the kind of business investments and practical uses of prosperity and economic progress represents one of the greatest assets we can possibly cultivate in order to give ourselves the momentum we need to get on over that edge, to get on beyond that division, to get on with creating what we are intended to be in this country, to make it the way it is supposed to be."

I thought he sounded ridiculous. I asked the woman next to me what she thought. A student at Hampton University interning for Scripps Howard, she said, "I'm going to vote for him," but soon caught herself, recalling her lessons that journalists are supposed to be objective. All the fellow from UPI would say is, "He's running for president. What can I say?"

Needing something to soak up the wine, I stayed through dinner before heading home.

Date: Wed, April 14, 1999 4:18 PM
From: [e-mail]
Subj: Mandate for Leadership

Pay attention, fellow Generation Xers. There's yet another group of your peers telling the world what you think. This time they come with a "covenant."

I got the word via a faxed media advisory notifying me that "fifty representatives of the `best and brightest' of Generation X" will release a report called The Content of Our Character at a town meeting on Thursday, April 8. The release was on the letterhead of the Kenan Ethics Program of Duke University. The report, the advisory promised, is a "thought-provoking vision and commentary on the American landscape." I set out to cover this momentous release.

Six hours before the event, I received a five-page teaser on the covenant. "We must educate our peers, our children, and our children's children [for all the Gen X grandparents out there] about the importance of civic engagement," this fax declared. "With hope and confidence, we look to our peers and our successors to carry out the vision that has already begun." Vision that has already begun?

In addition to canned rhetoric, the fax tapped many liberal bromides. It endorsed the McCain-Feingold speech restrictions, a.k.a. campaign finance reform; called on corporations to give away more of their owners' money and spend more on environmental initiatives; and endorsed government day care that "promotes experiential learning during the first five years of life."

I investigated the associated Web site, www.contentofourcharacter.org. The "best and brightest" of my generation, it turns out, have discovered something called "right-minded capitalism," which means corporate do-gooder giveaways. They also want to "capitalize our leadership and our belief in a divinity of spirit." Gen X leaders must "strive to be selfless." According to my peers, "human dignity" not only requires "fundamentals such as health care, education, shelter and subsistence, but it should also mean access to attentive physicians, viable public schools, adequate housing, and healthy food." Why not slender flight attendants and courteous waitresses?

The advisory had billed the event as a "town meeting," yet the location wasn't some community center, or even a classroom at the University of the District of Columbia. Nope. It was the House Science Committee Room, easily accessible to Hill-based reporters. These folks weren't an expedition of Gen Xers in search of truth but a bunch of young Bill Clintons and Ira Magaziners.

I was among the first, and last, to arrive. At about 4:10 p.m., the panel assembled to address the crowd of about 10 reporters. Gregg Behr, the Duke law and public policy student who edited the report, proceeded to explain its origin: A group of Truman Scholars, toiling in D.C. during the summer of 1995, thought they had a vision to share with the country. In August 1998, they convened a group of 50 people in Durham, North Carolina, to continue the bull sessions. After many debates, they decided they shared a set of common ethical principles. They then spent months writing, faxing, and e-mailing what they now regard as a "covenant."

Gregg is definitely an operator, and he appears to have political aspirations. He wore a permanent grin and spoke in an ostensibly soothing tone, a quiet voice that conveyed his deep compassion but nevertheless grated on my nerves. He's like a male kindergarten teacher, day care provider, or coach of young children who, in the face of child rage, kneels down on one knee, places his hands on a child's shoulders, and counsels: "It's OK to be mad, it's OK to cry when you're angry, it's OK to be upset when your feelings are hurt or when someone steals your ball or calls you names, but it's not OK to cuss out the person or punch him and take your ball back."

Next up was Maggie Super, a Yale graduate now studying city planning at MIT. Maggie discussed the report's community section, which she claimed was "iterative and inclusive." She was followed by Mollie Finch, who edited the political section. Mollie said her diverse group of 10 couldn't agree on any policy issues. Instead, she claimed they agreed upon values--working for the common good, honesty, courage, and "inspiring through vision." Honesty is particularly instructive.

According to the report, "an honest leader always will have pure motives, while maintaining a true respect for the rule of law and the best interests of the public." Yet the report never mentions by name our commander in chief, who has been held in contempt of court for lying and stands credibly accused of rape. After the presentations were done and Gregg had finished thanking everyone he's ever known in his life, I asked how Clinton's behavior fit with their emphasis on character and honesty and questioned why the report never mentioned him. Gregg said the report was about future leadership and that people had different opinions on the president's behavior.

Maggie feels the conversation on honesty has "become very narrow." It has been framed, after all, as being about telling the truth under oath and telling bald-faced lies to the American public. "We may have lost sight of the fact," Maggie instructed me, "that moral leadership and ethics have a whole number of issues associated with them that are in fact fundamentally more important for a civil society and a culture." She asked, "Is it ethical that kids don't have enough to eat?"

I edged in one more question: "What would you say to Generations Xers who perhaps don't find their views reflected in your document? There may be a segment of Generation X who believe that McCain-Feingold trounces all over free speech, instead of holding politicians accountable; that might feel that corporations pursue their values best when they pursue their profit motive wholeheartedly, an ethical position that has been out there for some time; and that might feel more environmental regulation isn't the way to go."

That got to the crux of it. Horacio Trujillo, a Truman and Rhodes scholar who serves as a legislative assistant for Rep. Tom Udall (D-N.M.), admitted that some in the group felt exactly like this. Gregg said no one who worked on the report actually agrees with its conclusions, just with the universal values that inform it. I guess the sentences just sort of sound good together. Some covenant.

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