Clare Consultation, LLCLeadership of People – A Follow-up on McAllen, TX
Leadership is a social phenomenon.
I mean really – no leading is the least bit relevant outside of a group, outside of society. I must concede to my biologist friends that leadership arguably happens among chimpanzees, lions, ants – even amoebas and cellular mitochondria. But, right now, I’m focusing on leadership where people are concerned. And, I’m thinking it’s way too easy to forget that a leader has no credibility outside the impact she or he has on the people. Any behavior that does not take guidance from its effect on people is something else. It’s not leadership.
Corollary to that is this: Kids are people. So is everyone born in Mexico and in Central and South America. And, so are the taxpayers and citizens of Texas and, for that matter, of the whole country.
I’ve just run across another of my friend, Scott’s facebook posts. I’m pasting it below. You’ll see he and the friend who has responded each has his own take on the situation at the Texas border – on the Federal response and effectiveness.
I’m not sure what I’d pitch in if I entered this conversation. I do know that for me, policy and law, as tools, are not necessarily the problem. Forgetting is. You’ll also see here and in my blog post from two weeks ago, that Scott is a leader who hasn’t forgotten.
Take a look. See what you think.
Mostly – think.
First thoughts on my end are generally critical appraisals of elected leadership. Those are certainly justified – even important when they influence voting. But it’s important not to stop – to think, too of the way you and I and each of us leads.
There’s something really necessary in understanding our leadership – passive? active? Serving who/what? There’s also something very hopeful to me in the possibility right at our fingertips for remembering the nature of leadership, its defining origin in human community.
The news these days is intense at least. Leadership appears to be failing left and right. And still there are vast resources in leadership that remembers who the leading is for. In that remembering, I can see no shortage of possibility for leading ourselves out of messes by dignifying everyone involved.
Just wanted to make a couple of points from my personal experience at McAllen Border Patrol Station. First, comments about Obama not being engaged by not having made a visit to the border when he was in Texas are off base. I think the President could have expressed his reasoning for not going to the border better, but the truth is, there was not anything to see that would have helped. The traffic at the border had slowed to almost below normal levels by the time that President Obama visited Texas. There were no kids sleeping outside on the concrete, the numbers of kids had been reduced to a level that the outside area used to process new arrivals had been emptied to the point where we were able to take the kids outside to play. I have posted some of those pictures online. There were not the “hundreds” of people that were there prior to July 4th.
Second, all of the blustering by Rick Perry is nothing more than a waste of Texas taxpayers money. The federal government (the Border Patrol) has not requested the help of either the Texas Department of Public Safety or the Texas National Guard., He will say he is “securing the border” at a time when the number of detainees is still declining. Those numbers are down because the federal government (under Obama) has deployed a significant number of Border Patrol Agents to the area and they are conducting an information campaign in Central America to inform people that they will not grant amnesty to children crossing the border. Governor Perry is as the Texas saying goes “All Hat and No Cattle.” He is not helping, he is spending Texas taxpayer money hand over fist that could be better spent elsewhere, and you watch – he is going to moan and complain that the federal government is not helping by reimbursing Texas for all of the costs they are expending to secure the border. Here is a news flash for you Governor, when you do something that doesn’t need to be done, don’t expect to get paid for it!
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Carl Seiler I find it funny/sad that the US House is all blustery about not giving more funds to ICE, EIOR and other federal agencies, which is what may take to properly process and care for these children under the 2008 law. However, the same party was more than happy to announce on July 3rd that they plan to sue the federal government for increased costs of border enforcement. It’s like, “No, you can’t have any more money to enforce the laws as written and tackle an entirely unprecedented situation …but please give us money to drive around in HUMVs at the border.” Really, what is the Guard going to do down there exactly?
Scott Flowerday If the Guard does what DPS was doing then they aren’t doing anything but displaying force. It may be possible that could scare people from attempting to cross the border. I am sure some might think that is a good thing, but if they scare these children and prevent them from crossing, it is highly likely that some of them will end up dead from the heat. It is certainly not helping because these kids turn themselves in once they cross the border, they don’t run and they are not a risk to anyone (but perhaps themselves). This is a humanitarian issue. If that means feeding and taking care of them and even possibly flying them back to their home country, then that is what we should do. Trying to scare these kids or treat them like criminals is not a help.