The Bully Pulpit - part 1

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the phrase, ”Bully Pulpit.” In 2013, noted historian, Doris Kearns Goodwin published a book entitled, The Bully Pulpit: Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, and the Golden Age of Journalism. President Teddy Roosevelt is credited with having coined the term “bully pulpit.” Roosevelt proclaimed, ”I suppose my critics will call that preaching, but I have got such a bully pulpit!" Urban legend also credits Roosevelt with having fostered the use of the word “bully” in it adjectival form, as a term of congratulations, as in “bully for you.” The term “bully pulpit” was never meant to infer that the person occupying the office or position used that elevated status to pressure or bully others to do her or his will. That may be about to change!

Over the past year-plus of our noisy and chaotic Presidential contest, we have witnessed vitriol, name-calling, and hateful rhetoric boosted to the highest levels of our society. I know politics and political campaigns can get nasty. What we are watching truly worries me going forward. You might think my plaint partisan in nature. Allow me to explain.

Over the past 29 years, my wife and I have tried to teach our four children what Jewish tradition terms derekh eretz, “good manners” as regards their interactions with others. Jewish tradition teaches us to view each and every persona as reflection of tzelem Elohim, the “image of God.” I think we did a fairly decent job instilling that in our children. To be sure, all of us are given to moments of pique in which we may not follow our “better angels” and cherished ideals. In light of our time’s toxic discourse, I am left to wonder how my children will teach my grandchildren to respect others when prominent figures on our national stage have elevated schoolyard bully tactics and name-calling to the highest levels in our society and culture.

Our nation was founded on the basis of recognizing the rights and dignity of each person. Our Declaration of Independence states, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” We can and do discuss, debate and argue over the meaning and application of those words. That I believe, is a fundamental feature of our democracy.
However in our current national discourse etiquette and norms of social behavior aerie seemingly being discarded. Rather than strengthening ourselves and one another within a culture of respect, for the individual, for faith communities and ethnic and racial groups other than our own, we are on a destructive path fueled by anger and fear. Our Declaration ends with the words, “We mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.” Let us join in reaffirming this sacred pledge. Let us show our children and the generations to come that we mean to hold ourselves accountable to it.

to be continued