Don't Forget To Ask

 

"Everything should be questioned.  No institutional authority is ever so formidable that they should be entitled to shield themselves from challenge and questioning.  And I think that lies at the heart of the value of privacy, I think it lies at the heart of a belief in free speech as well."

 

The people's representatives should never be afraid to answer their constituents openly, transparently, responsibly.  If not, then they aren't representing the people's interests, but their own.  You can't understand the will of the people if you're not willing to talk to them, nor understand the way they see their concerns.

 

Without communication, you can't understand a problem, let alone hope to solve it.

 

Leadership is solving problems.  The day soldiers stop bringing you their problems is the day you have stopped leading them.  They have either lost confidence that you can help or concluded you do not care.  Either case is a failure of leadership.

 

Think on that, then ask yourself - where, if anywhere, do we have that kind of leadership today?