To conclude this series exploring quotes that make up the foundational ethos of the mission, I want to highlight two, bringing the last two journal entries in this series into one.
Speaking of her time leading the Underground Railroad, Harriet Tubman said this:
“I never ran my train off the tracks and I never lost a passenger.”
What’s inspiring to me about this statement is that Harriet’s leadership included politics, civil rights, forward progress, the human experience as it should be, severe personal trauma, contemplative faith, leading teams—and physical endurance.
I started Liberatus in 2015 partly because it’s ambiguous what exactly we were fighting for in Congress. While we said we were fighting for freedom, in the words of former Congressman Raul Labrador, Capitol Hill “is a place that just sucks your soul.” But why?
“He’s a principled conservative.”
After working within the conservative movement, it’s not clear to me what this statement means.
But I think it means something like this: There’s a conservative view of things that is the truth, therefore, he stands on that truth no matter the costs, achieves top marks on legislative scorecards, and those who don’t hold to principles might be nice to people but they’ll never be champions.
Today, often the farthest we go with this advice is to say that we should “turn down the heat” when things get too ugly. But to govern the country well, we need constructive parameters for what it means to restrain partisanship, in the same way that Olympic athletes have constructive parameters for how to perform at their best, follow the rules of their sport, and uphold sportsmanship.
What can we learn from the tenacity of Martin Luther King? In the midst of those dark days, when nothing in the world seemed to match the vision in his heart, how did he inspire millions of Americans to persevere in their struggle to attain equality? Why are the bonds that tie us together as Americans being ripped apart today?
Much to my dismay, the process of finding fulfilling employment proved to be a grueling endeavor. The process of walking through a desert of difficulty challenged me to reevaluate the vision I brought to D.C., and to entertain the possibility that something more fulfilling and beautiful could be mine . . . if I was willing to wait for it.
We need to see that burnout isn’t actually burnout. What I mean is, it happens for a reason; it’s a symptom of much deeper and larger issues. The short of it is that—as I have seen firsthand over the past decade—the unity of Truth and Beauty in political culture is so rare that we need to begin building a new framework to rethink how we engage from the inside.
If I’m honest with myself, I fear “losing the argument” or watching the other side “topple my principles.” And I don’t think I’m the only one. We all know inside that there’s a truer, more beautiful reality for America. Yet the fear of unrequited cooperation paralyzes and imprisons us, reducing public servants to inmates doing time.
If you haven’t already read Abby Wambach’s In Her Own Words: Moving On As A Champion, you should click the link now and read it first.
Her note about leaving the beautiful game is filled with ideas of relevance for the culture of American politics today and the future of LIBERATUS.
Those of us with callings on Capitol Hill aren’t just left to accept things the way they are. Why not? Because of Christmas: it’s the celebration of one who came to break into destructive darkness and dysfunctional cycles to bring restoration and healing. So how does that inform my work in a dysfunctional space?
For decades, Christians have fallen into a dangerous trap by reducing the Church to a political interest group. The consequences speak for themselves: in order to play the political game, we have resorted to defining our partisan causes as righteous and the cause of anyone who disagrees as evil – even if those on the other side are Christians.
When I placed my toes in the intersection of millennia of the greatest triumphs and downfalls of human history, from exploration to the slave trade, it finally made sense to me. To love the ocean is to be a part of something greater than yourself. You don’t just look at the ocean, you immerse your whole self in it.
I can’t help but wonder what would happen if we allowed more whimsy into the current atmosphere of life on the Hill. Whimsy in politics—seems dangerous, doesn’t it? But, there is a lot to be learned from Bob in Love Does that we can apply to current times and the political machine we eat, sleep, live, and breathe.
What if our calling as people who have been set free is to begin making radical changes to the way we operate within political culture—from the inside? What if we start in Congress? What if all of those changes are driven by a deeper knowledge of freedom? What if instead of letting the status quo beat us down, we set to work bringing healing?
Our theme for Issue 007 is A Creative Pursuit. We opened with ideas from a current Legislative Correspondent on how to bring creativity into political culture, including more collaboration and a better work-rest balance. We continued the issue by talking about taking risks, including no more manipulating through fear. But what if we take these ideas a step further?
The story of the Wright Brothers from Dayton, Ohio is filled with ideas of consequence for the culture of Capitol Hill and American politics today. And so for today’s journal, we will examine their story, drawing conclusions for our work in politics that will help us bring creativity and truth and beauty into our work.
Taking risks on Capitol Hill, and doing so by rethinking how we live out our faith in Jesus would be dramatic. We’ve noted in prior weeks a congressional staffer’s ideas of more collaboration and a better rhythm of work and rest. I’ll add a third: no more using fear as a motivator. Each of these would require an element of risk, but they also present new opportunities.
Let’s be honest: the primary goal, broadly speaking, of congressional offices is for the Member to get re-elected. Re-election demands the safety of what’s been done before, of what worked the first time. The job of representing shifts towards keeping the peace, and we lose a deeper understanding of what it means to govern well with the time we’ve already been given.
What first drew me to politics was the idea of creatively solving big problems facing our world. However, as most would guess Capitol Hill is a far cry from a creative Mecca. Although changing this culture will be a slow process, I am going to highlight a few steps offices can take to encourage creativity and ultimately foster an environment that produces meaningful change within our nation.
Being on the bottom is not fun. It’s hard to connect your daily responsibilities to the ideals you are passionate about, especially when those responsibilities include scheduling tours and fulfilling flag requests. On the days when work is really hard, these are the principles I preach to myself that have helped me be faithful where God has called me.
In George Washington’s farewell address in 1796 he actually warned against the “spirit of party.” He believed that the formation of parties would cause people to focus on revenge and domination instead of the good of society.
Maybe the change has to start with staffers.
