Self-Indulgent and ineffectual discussion...

One of my main frustrations with politics is the (in my opinion) obsession with past political events and the corresponding lack of action and forward looking planning. I am not suggesting ignoring we repeat our past mistakes by ignoring history, but rather that we ignore the impulse to overanalyze what 20/20 hindsight plainly presents. In Leadership Gateway this past week we discussed whether the US would still be the major world power in 50 years. Questions such as this and the discussions they generate are rather pointless in my view. There are too many factors involved, and guesses don’t change anything about what will happen. Instead I wish we could focus on a more middle forward looking view. Concentrating on how we can now and for the future set ourselves up to be in the best position possible. These are the factors we can control, outside of ourselves other agencies and nations will make their own choices, and perhaps those choices will put them in a position above the US politically or perhaps it won’t.
Our class exercise and following discussion on Thursday was interesting but not very productive since almost the entire class consisted of us discussing why we acted the way we did for the first 20 minutes of class. Again I would repeat that some reflection on how our current position evolved is useful, but not if the lessons learned are never applied because we never move beyond discussion of the past to discussion on the future. A balance is needed, and an efficient system worked out that keeps such self-indulgencies from wasting time and possibilities.