Harvard students made news recently when almost half of a class of 279 students were accused of cheating on a test. The fact that the cheating scandal involved Harvard is what made it news. There’s a synchronicity here in that the subject of the course involves an organization that most Americans consider dysfunctional and whose members are often caught cheating or lying – especially a lot of the latter. The name of the course: Introduction to Congress.
Only 12% of Americans think their congress is doing a good job. Contempt for congress is so widespread that 87% of Americans think every member running for re-election should be thrown out of office. Not much confidence there.
Let’s take 14-year congressman and vice-presidential candidate Paul Ryan. He’s well known for not only expressing a strong opinion, but distorting the facts to support it. Just recently he has even been caught in a lie about his personal life. When asked how fast he ran a marathon he entered years ago, he said it was in the neighborhood of 2 hours and fifty-some minutes.
First of all, if you break three hours in a marathon, you’re probably going to remember the exact time. I ran a 15 kilometer race in 66 minutes years ago at the Tampa Gasparilla Festival, and have never forgotten After all, it was the only 15-k race I ever ran, just as Paul Ryan’s marathon was the only marathon he ever ran. Runner’s World pressed Ryan about the time and after a couple of days of repeated questions, he conceded that he ran that race in about four hours.
It seems that the congressman has an uneasy relationship with the truth. His acceptance speech at the GOP convention has been called one of the most dishonest political speeches in recent U.S. political history. Click here for more details. When his campaign was asked about the inaccuracies, the response was that Ryan was not going to change the direction of his campaign because of a few fact checkers.
As for the Harvard students, they are facing ethical charges of “academic dishonesty, ranging from inappropriate collaboration to outright plagiarism, on a take-home final exam.” The exam was open book, open internet, but no collaborating with other students on the test.
One senior who’s under investigation, and who spoke to Salon only on condition of anonymity, said that the scandal was a crackdown on a course that has a reputation for being easy. The course had a “culture” in which collaboration was “fostered, encouraged, expected.” Students were encouraged to treat exams like “problem sets,” which the student understands to allow collaboration. “The bubble burst this year and we’re being scapegoated.”
Maybe it’s time for the American public to follow Harvard’s footsteps and scapegoat the culture of congress for the mess they’ve created by their members’ unwillingness to agree on anything, with possibly the exception of the naming of new post offices.
Bottom line: It’s not surprising that students might treat a class on congress with the same amount of respect that congress treats the American people.
– Rob
I thought that the ability to lie was an essential quality to get into politics – at least it seems that way over here in the UK.
Well said, and your comment shows the links between the “microcosm” and “macrocosm”. What came to mind was how much we have lost throughout a sense of honor.
I never said Bush isn’t to blame for our country’s circumstances. I said we continue to give Bush energy and victory by continuing to harp on him! And I believe that. Closing one’s eyes to the faults of someone we like (Obama) is like closing one’s eyes to the faults of a favored child, thereby giving unspoken permission to allow the child to continue to misbehave. In a president, this is a dangerous tact for his supporters to take. If we don’t demand the best of him, we will get the worst of him, and the worst of him isn’t a pretty sight for a Commander-In-Chief. I prefer to see the whole package when my country’s future depends on the leader in charge. No matter what you say, if you go back through the events in Obama’s life during his first term in office, unless you are deleting a lot, you can’t help but see his attachment to celebrity. (Start with George Clooney and go from there.) Ignore it if you will. I see it as his downfall, and ours, unless he gets more serious. Yes, I saw the clip of Clint Eastwood at the RNC, and it was a travesty. Let’s not allow our candidate to make a similar clown of himself by using Hollywood glamour. Clintwood certainly wasn’t an asset for Romney, and all these stars aren’t assets for Obama. They are liabilities, just as Eastwood was for Romney. Concerning Bush, my take on that is that it’s time to let the sleeping dog lie and stop re-hashing the same old same old and move forward, lest we keep the ghost of the Bush years alive and well and still impacting everything Obama does. Bush can’t be blamed for Obama’s CURRENT shortfalls. In my opinion, blaming everything on GWB that Obama has done wrong or failed to do is simply making excuses for Obama. Those mis-steps belong to Obama, like him or not, doesn’t matter. No one is perfect, including Mr. Obama, and avoidance of his faults will bring us down. Re Nancy’s remarks, I agree. And we actually DO have more than two parties….we have the Independents, of which I am one, neither Democrat nor Republican, and I make my choices according to the person, not the party. I will not be dogmatic when it comes to politics. I prefer to allow myself to be open to the entire political scene and all its participants as a means of making what, for me, is a well-informed vote. I won’t put blinders on where my choice is concerned. We pay the salary of our president, and he is in service to the people of this country. If we don’t monitor our choice and demand the very best he can offer, then WE are to blame for the fall. Companies fire employees who fail to do their jobs effectively. I want to see Obama work more effectively and stop blaming Bush for his own striking-out when the ball comes straight over the base. I want him to stop playing, stop making pretty but empty speeches and unfulfilled promises, put his shoulder to the grindstone, keep it there, and do the job he is elected to do. If he can’t do that, take himself to the bench. I’m voting for Obama because just the thought of Romney in the White House gives me the shakes. That must be prevented at all costs. But my voting for Obama doesn’t indicate that I support him without reservations. I have some reservations, but of the two candidates, Obama is the only one for whom I can say “OK”. And I don’t have a lot of confidence in him, based on his first term. I’m hoping he does better this go-round. If not, shame on him, and shame on US for not demanding better from him because he certainly has the capabilities to get the job done. But for goodness sake, let’s cease comparing him to everyone else and focus on HIM and what he needs to do, instead of juggling him against the opposing teams. We all know who and what they are, and I think we need to put our full focus on Obama and his job if we expect him to do it. Otherwise, we might as well take our defeats with our tails between our legs and stumble home, because WE, as the voters putting him in charge, will be to blame.
But don’t you think that the Military Industrial Complex controls the president, regardless of party, and that they have to allow certain things to happen…otherwise, they will end up like JFK if they try to stop it or to inform the American people about what’s really going on? I believe that presidents are allowed to have their “pet projects” to be part of their legacy of accomplishments, but when it comes to foreign policy stuff, the president takes orders from the NSA or whoever is part of the MIC.
I support Obama and hope that he will do a major legislation on race and immigration in his second term. It would be a shame if the first African American president left office without some major initiative that helped the African American community economically. I also want to see him have a successful two term president, walk out of there on January 20, 2017, build his legacy library and museum (in Chicago), write his memoirs, and shape his post-presidency doing whatever he wants.
The thought of Romney as president has me looking at an escape plan. I’m done with this country if Americans want this wealthy, clueless, corporate whore to be the next president. There won’t be any Social Security or Medicare when I retire in 25 years.
Your comment somehow ended up in spam. Sorry about that! Yes, I think there’s some other control – military industrial complex or something else.
P.S. One more comment: nowhere in my remarks did I refer to Obama as a “rock star”. I referred to him as a playboy, and there is definitely that strong aspect demonstrated often in his personality. It should be toned down. THAT’S what I was saying.
Once again, Trish, I repeat for the umpteenth time that I am not going to engage in a comparison anymore of Obama with Bush or anyone else. I am only interested in what MY choice for president, Mr. Obama, plans to do during his second term to get this country moving forward again. If you haven’t seen the playboy side of Obama, you’ve not seen him often, because he himself admits how much he enjoys hobnobbing with the Hollywood types, appearing on TV’s talk shows, etc etc etc. He has a very serious, very intelligent, very knowledgable side, and it’s my right to expect him, as my country’s leader, to try to tone down the playing, movie star aspects of his personality, (which are extremely apparent in his abilities as a rhetorical orator and charismatic speaker), and put more energy into the business of being president. Again, I will not acknowledge anymore, any comparison between him and Bush. That is SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO done, don’t you think? I’m sick and tired of hearing Bush’s and Obama’s names even spoken or written in the same sentence. Now it’s time for Obama to stand on his OWN merits, leave Bush to the history books, and surge forward. That is why I’m voting for him, and that is what I expect of him. No offense intended towards you or anyone else. I support this man, but I do have expectations that differ from some and agree with others. That’s what makes us a democratic nation. I respect and honor your opinions. I see the whole Obama, and not just the parts of him that I want to see and that are pleasing. I see his less attractive aspects as well as his attractive aspects, and I desperately want him to start really leaning hard with the greatness that he does own, (because in spite of his shortcomings Obama IS a great man, in my opinion; probably far greater than even he himself realizes, and therein lies the problem), or Romney will be in the White House and then we are doomed. Obama’s GOT to step up with his intents and make them known to America, and the time to do that is NOW. Get those movie stars out of that convention center and get down to the business of repairing this country. If we think about it, guys, he’s not doing himself any favors among the middle-class citizens when he brings in the wealthiest multi-billionaire people in Hollywood to stand beside him. He wants the middle-class votes, and that won’t get them for him. OK, I’ll shut up.
Math, you can’t ignore that 8 years of bush are intimately connected to what has happened in this country in the last 4 years. We ahve an intractable congress that has made it clear from the beginning that their only agenda is to defeat everything obama proposes and to defeat him so that he can’t serve for another 4 years. Given the situation he inherited, the dopes in congress, he has done better than I expected. I happen to watch a lot of politics and have never seen Obama has a hobnobbing guy with Hollywood types. I don’t even have any idea what you’re talking about or referring to. Again , I repeat: you cannot separate the past 4 years under obama from the previous 8 years of bush. In fact, you can go back to Reagan for when this whole debacle began – he was the guy who believed in trickle down economics.
Is a presidential convention intended to be fun, or is it intended to introduce and/or carry forth the platform of the candidate? Not meaning to be argumentative. I simply find this to be an inappropriate display of the lack of seriousness that unfortunately has haunted Mr. Obama throughout his years in office. Everyone has his or her opinion about this, but my essential problem with this young president has been this very issue of inattention to national matters of such concern to the American public. I’m not alone in this. Many, many of his supporters such as myself have been disappointed in his playboy persona. It doesn’t bode well for the image of a leader to demonstrate a lack of a certain dignity. No, I’m not saying he should be a sourpuss….only that the Conventi0n is NOT the place to spotlight this side of his personality. Our country is in serious trouble, and it needs a serious president. I want to see that, and thus far, have not.
I don’t see Obama in the same way you do. After 8 years of a buffoon like bush, Obama is refreshing. He’s young, smart, energetic. I don’t see this rock star stuff you’re talking about.
And from Yale. And, at the risk of coming out of the conspiracy closet in which I often tend to hide, most of the “successful” politicians were/are members of Skulls and Bones. This is a verified fact. I have one problem with the Dem convention. I just watched a campaign ad for it…a lengthy ad. (It was intended to be a positive ad for Obama and was not on FOX) The Dem convention will be filled with movies stars from the “A” list, and apparently it is going to take on a celebratory, party-like atmosphere (no pun intended) as opposed to being a serious gathering to determine Obama’s platform, etc. There were dozens of movie stars who were shown telling the viewing audience that they will be there at the Convention and will speak. This bothers the heck out of me. The Democratic Convention ISN’T the place to present all his Hollywood supporters and close friends, and I find this a turn-off; another mis-step, and one that he should have prevented. The Convention isn’t an Academy Awards Show, guys. I believe this to be an enormous error on Obama’s part, because it exemplifies so much of the party animal he has been during his first term. I voted for him; will vote for him a second time. But please, sir, start thinking like a Commander-In-Chief and NOT a charismatic movie star mingling with your friends. That has been one of your most dangerous mistakes these past four years. It needs to cease. TODAY.
One thing is for sure. The dem convention will be a lot more fun to watch than the repub convention was. I’m less concerned about movie stars being there than I am about obama addressing some policy issues that were addressed in this article:
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/09/02/john-cusack-interviews-la_n_1850181.html
EVERYONE should read that article! I’ve been saying this for some time – Obama is one scary dude! For the first time since I turned 18 and proudly went to the polls – I may not vote. I voted for Obama the first time, but the sneaky way he’s been taking our freedoms is truly terrifying. He’s not thrown us enough nuts to make up for quietly passing a law stating he could arrest, strip search, and kill American citizens without due process – all during the Christmas holiday.
And the alternative is romney? You know what he would do to the constitution? That article DID scare me, Nancy. But romney and ryan scare me worse. Women would be hurled back into the dark ages.
The only party that gives a damn about people is the democrats. Yes, I wish we had more than 2 parties. But since we don’t, we have to work with what we have.
But just as the article says – we are saying gutting our constitution and becoming an authoritarian state is okay if we vote for Obama. I know Lyin Ryan and Misfit Mitt are bad – but are they really worse?? What is worse than a totalitarian state? Maybe it’s time to stand up and be counted – by not participating in a broken system. When does it get fixed if it just continues?
Both Mitt and Ryan are pathalogical liars. They lie when the truth would help them. As for not knowing his running time – I call bs. My husband knows his running time from his last marathon over thirty years ago. He says it is something you never forget. As for Harvard – they are obviously learning that ethics for are the “little schools.” No wonder we have such a dispicable group in Congross (not a misspelling.) Most of them come from there.
Gypsy, what an example of a lack of ethics! How in the world did that student think he could get away with such a thing! Astonishing, what people do. Makes us crazy if we dwell on it. Can’t imagine what kind of legal person that student will become and how many lives might be entrusted to him. Tragic.
I think sometimes we must delve very, very deeply with an intense focus into a web of synchronistic incidents, connecting the dots in their matrix, if we are to find their inherent truths. Those truths differ from person to person, as synchronicities are individual and personally meaningful, and each person finds his or her own truths, (or not), within them.
well said, rob – i thought about the synchronicity of this story, when i heard it, as well – and at the same time was reminded of a recent incident of my daughter who teaches master’s level courses in law – one of her students plagiarised nearly the entire 5-6 page paper required at the end of the semester – except for just a very few words, the entire paper was direct quotes – it wasn’t like there was a quote here and there in the paper – it was the whole thing! and from a man who is a career law enforcement person – oh, and the class? ethics –
Good one, Gypsy! Ethics, no less.