District 21/22/23 Newsletter (Diamond Head to Kakaako, Moiliili to Pawaa)

The election season is ramping up -- with July 25, 2006, the deadline for filing for this year’s elections. This year, it really does seem to be different. The Republicans seem to be united -- or at least have an understanding to respect their differences, while we’re still waiting for some leadership to emerge from the Democrat camp other than, “Blame Bush for everything,” and hoping to exploit some kind of local, petty differences.

I think today’s citizens are not petty, nor are they as ideological as the media makes us out to be -- ready to tear out the jugulars of all those who disagree with us on every issue -- as though we have nothing better to do but stampede on cue. That’s probably a large reason why the influence of mass media has diminished greatly, and is accelerating in these last few years -- making it truly possible for an effective grassroots campaign to succeed. The grassroots meanwhile, have picked up formidable new capacities in the new technologies of the Internet and cell phone networks enabling ease of communications unprecedented before.

The important concept is “mindshare.” Information has power when we share it with others -- so they are working with the same information you have. In a previous generation, information was thought to have power if one withheld it from the others in the thinking that one could control the others because they were not as informed, allowing some to dominate others -- as the leadership paradigm. Leaders were leaders because they were smarter and more powerful than anyone else (by exclusive access to information) -- rather than enabling the more effective strategy of delegating authority and sharing power with those worthy of that trust. But with more than just the traditional reporters telling us all we know, it is now possible for the ordinary citizen to have a bigger picture of what is going on than the principals -- too preoccupied in the machinations of power and pressure.

That’s how the Lingle-Aiona Administration is remarkable, different and effective; the leadership style is not top-down from the Big Boss, who micromanages and second-guesses every decision so that people lose confidence in the ability to think and act for themselves. But the governor retains full responsibility and accountability -- and looks for causes when things don’t go right -- rather than just somebody to blame. That’s when we’ve moved out of the plantation era mentality of only one person being allowed to think -- for everybody else, even if they called themselves, “Democrats.” The words, the labels, the alibis, don’t mean anything; it is the actions, and the results.

Are we not better off than we were four years ago -- immeasurably? But success also brings challenges of their own -- or people know nothing else but to destroy their own success so that they can be successful again, in a dysfunctional repetition of history. Progress, evolution, “a more perfect society,” is going beyond, to where we have not been before.

The leader we can have confidence in moving forward, is our present governor, Linda Lingle; she’s blazed every path naturally, effortlessly, gracefully all her life. That’s a proven track-record, if there ever was one. Those are the kinds of people it takes to be the true leaders in the world, in all the aspects of a greater society, that the government and all the institutions are meant to serve. The government does not exist just to serve itself -- to provide more high-paying jobs for themselves for doing as little as possible (or anything at all), or even, creating a bigger problem that requires more high-paying jobs to solve.

So we need elected officials who are not enabling that mess -- that hopeless quagmire of expanding the problems infinitely, hopelessly -- even as they claim it is “for the keiki,” “for the kupuna,” for everybody else but themselves -- for their ambition is a selfless cause. Meanwhile, back on earth, we eventually have to pay for their generosity and largesse. In the past, there was no greater lure than, “Everything for free.” The world just doesn’t work that way. There are always costs -- while sometimes, the rewards disappear as soon as the free federal money expires. That’s not a healthy way to run any enterprise of sustainable values and purposes -- and especially government.

Particularly noteworthy about our present governor is that she demystifies government jargon and doesn’t use it herself, so that for the first time, people are not excluded because they don’t know the “secret talk” of government officials (bureaucrats). In this respect, she has fulfilled one of her primary promises to restore integrity and trust to government -- which is always the necessary first step. Once that trust and confidence in integrity is in place, anything is possible -- because all that energy that formerly went into undermining one another for personal aggrandizement, is freed to serve the greater good.

The new model of leadership is about leading by example -- and not just being “the baddest dude in town” who gets to boss around everybody else. That is not leadership -- but bullying and intimidation, which we hope is now a forgotten memory of the past, although one hears rumors they still condone it in some public schools and offices -- as a remnant of the “good old ways,” and the “good old boys.”

Our regularly scheduled monthly meeting, on the 4th Wednesdays of each month, is this Wednesday, June 28, 6:00 pm, at the Hawaii Republican Headquarters, Kapiolani Blvd and Cooke. Per the tradition of our meetings, everyone is invited to attend, and candidates running for office are especially encouraged and given an opportunity to deliver a brief message about their campaigns. After all, that’s what we’re all about, and there is no more important business we have to get on to.