If It’s Broke, Be Careful How You Fix It
By Donella Meadows
–August 2, 1992–
Just about everyone admits these days that the American democracy is both broken and broke. Many ideas are circulating about how to fix it, most of which, as far as I can tell, would make things worse.
The most popular fix seems to be term limits. Fifteen states are putting term limit options on their ballots this [...]
Ross Perot, Jesse Jackson, and the Politics of Protest
By Donella Meadows
–July 24, 1992–
Though I hadn’t made up my mind to vote for Ross Perot, I was sorry to see him leave the campaign. I like him, for the same reasons that I like Jesse Jackson.
They are both delightfully unprofessional. They won’t submit to the grooming and polishing of party machines. They don’t need polls to know what to [...]
The Question Of Leadership: A good leader sets the right goals, gets things moving, and helps us discover that we already know what to do
By Donella H. Meadows
–Fall/Winter 1991–
In case you’ve given up looking, you’ll be happy to know that there is a newspaper column that goes beyond the cynical bickering that passes for political criticism. Since 1985 Donella H. Meadows – known to many as the coauthor of The Limits to Growth, to some as an adjunct professor at Dartmouth in environmental studies, and to friends [...]
An Introduction to American Politics for Melinda
By Donella Meadows
–November 14, 1991–
Welcome, Melinda, to the United States. Your Hungarian university sent you here to practice English, and since you’ve arrived at the beginning of a presidential election season, you’ll also get to see “democracy” in action. I know people in your country are very interested in democracy, so I’ll do the best I can to explain it [...]
A Letter to a Great Teacher
By Donella Meadows
–October 31, 1991–
Professor Anita Hill
University of Oklahoma Law School
Norman, Oklahoma
Dear Professor Hill,
The fuss has died down and you have gone back to whatever your life is like now. You must be getting thousands of letters, some of them less than polite. I hesitated for awhile about adding to your mail, but I find that, like many Americans, I [...]
