The New American Scarcity
By Donella Medows
April 7, 1988
We can’t afford to keep the post offices open full time. We can’t fix the roads or educate our children properly. Whenever a political candidate proposes to fight drugs or shelter the homeless, the other candidates respond in a chorus, “But where are you going to get the money?”, as if money has suddenly become scarce.
In [...]
What is This Thing Called Leadership?
By Donella Meadows
–February 11, 1988–
“Leadership,” the Presidential candidates are saying again and again and again. “You can count on me for strong leadership.”
Leadership is a perfect word for a campaign. It sounds wonderful, it requires no concrete promises, and no one is quite sure what it means. Whatever it is, we are supposed to want it, and to want it [...]
Ronald Reagan in the Shadow of Thomas Jefferson
By Donella Meadows
–July 9, 1987–
When a President summons the image of a great predecessor to cast a gleam of glory onto a present action, watch out. The current incumbent is probably trying to pull off something the historical one would have detested. Richard Nixon used a portrait of honest Abe Lincoln as the backdrop for his prevarications about Watergate. And [...]
We Don’t Need Leadership to Know Right From Wrong
By Donella Meadows
–June 4, 1987–
“Assaulted by sleaze, scandals, and hypocrisy, America searches for its moral bearings,” the cover of the May 25 Time magazine says. The essay inside describes how the Reagan administration has failed in moral leadership — or, more precisely, how it has succeeded in promoting “mindless materialism” and a “values vacuum”.
Given the national confusion on ethical issues [...]
Gary Hart — The Hound is Brother to the Fox
By Donella Meadows
–May 14, 1987–
It’s awful to watch the pack close in on the fox right in your own back yard.
Until Gary Hart arrived in Hanover last week, I had never seen the full fury of the press pursuing a hot story. Private jets with network logos descended on our little airport. The streets were jammed by TV vans topped [...]
