William Tecumseh Sherman famously said he would not run for President. When pressed by the Republican Party to run he answered he would not accept the nomination, and if nominated he would not run and if elected, he would not serve. He did not play that coy game ambitious American men had played since the time of Hamilton and Burr, and even before them, when men pretended to be not interested. What he was saying was he really was not interested.
Sherman had done something more important. He had helped Grant win the Civil War. Governing as President was not as important a job as the one he had already done.
Sherman's father, who died when Sherman was a boy, named him after an Indian chief--the William was added later when Sherman applied to West Point--Tecumseh was an Indian who had united diverse Indian tribes and brought their federation together to negotiate with the looming white man's government. People asked Sherman's father why he had named his son after an Indian. In that time Indians were still actively in conflict with White society. Sherman's father said he respected the accomplishment of Tecumseh.
When Peter Mansfield won the Nobel Prize for physics because of his work which led to MRI imaging, which revolutionized diagnosis in medicine, his mentor told him he had already done something more important than winning the Nobel prize--he had done the work, made the discovery.
When Bill Russell's daughter asked him if he felt badly, hearing the crowd boo him toward the end of his career, he said, "No. I never actually heard the boos, because I had never heard the cheers." Bill Russell knew what was important.
Donald Trump is the opposite side of that coin. He doesn't know the value of the work. He is only interested in hearing the cheers. And the cheers are empty. He is hoisted on shoulders because he has paid for those shoulders.
In "The Lonely Crowd" David Riesman explores two types of personality--the "inner directed" man vs the "outer directed" man. The inner directed man cares about his own values, his own goals. He is the ultimate engineer, for whom the work is what's important, not the glory. What others think is of little importance to the inner directed man--only important in so far as how it may help him accomplish his task. The "outer directed man" derives his pleasure and satisfaction from the response he gets from others.
Most of our Congressmen and government officials are outer directed people. Ted Cruz is the epitome of the outer directed person, as is Trump.
This may be one reason our government has descended into such profound dysfunction. While career civil servants may be concerned about getting things to work, about FEMA getting relief to hurricane victims, about the Food and Drug administration identifying harmful drugs, about the Environmental Protection Agency discovering the lead in Flint's water, about the Nuclear Regulatory Agency and the Department of Energy making sure our nuclear plants do not melt down, the people running them do not care much about any of this. It's not about us. It's about them.
Sherman had done something more important. He had helped Grant win the Civil War. Governing as President was not as important a job as the one he had already done.
Sherman's father, who died when Sherman was a boy, named him after an Indian chief--the William was added later when Sherman applied to West Point--Tecumseh was an Indian who had united diverse Indian tribes and brought their federation together to negotiate with the looming white man's government. People asked Sherman's father why he had named his son after an Indian. In that time Indians were still actively in conflict with White society. Sherman's father said he respected the accomplishment of Tecumseh.
When Peter Mansfield won the Nobel Prize for physics because of his work which led to MRI imaging, which revolutionized diagnosis in medicine, his mentor told him he had already done something more important than winning the Nobel prize--he had done the work, made the discovery.
When Bill Russell's daughter asked him if he felt badly, hearing the crowd boo him toward the end of his career, he said, "No. I never actually heard the boos, because I had never heard the cheers." Bill Russell knew what was important.
Donald Trump is the opposite side of that coin. He doesn't know the value of the work. He is only interested in hearing the cheers. And the cheers are empty. He is hoisted on shoulders because he has paid for those shoulders.
In "The Lonely Crowd" David Riesman explores two types of personality--the "inner directed" man vs the "outer directed" man. The inner directed man cares about his own values, his own goals. He is the ultimate engineer, for whom the work is what's important, not the glory. What others think is of little importance to the inner directed man--only important in so far as how it may help him accomplish his task. The "outer directed man" derives his pleasure and satisfaction from the response he gets from others.
Most of our Congressmen and government officials are outer directed people. Ted Cruz is the epitome of the outer directed person, as is Trump.
This may be one reason our government has descended into such profound dysfunction. While career civil servants may be concerned about getting things to work, about FEMA getting relief to hurricane victims, about the Food and Drug administration identifying harmful drugs, about the Environmental Protection Agency discovering the lead in Flint's water, about the Nuclear Regulatory Agency and the Department of Energy making sure our nuclear plants do not melt down, the people running them do not care much about any of this. It's not about us. It's about them.
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