3 Things You Need to do Post Trump

On this episode of Break It Down Show, we feature my research partner, Dr. Richard Ledet. Rich has a Political Science Ph.D. from Notre Dame, but he also has been an 11B, AKA US Army Infantryman. What I want us all to see in Rich, are his roots.

He’s born and raised on the bayou and it doesn’t get grittier than that. He's from an area where people don’t typically go on to become a doctor of anything. He understands the South, rural and blue collar. He’s also got an access badge to the ivory tower where academic ethos resides. Most importantly, he mixed the two worlds when we scrambled around the hills of Afghanistan looking for cultural gaps. He is a treasure.

Why is Dr. Ledet important? Read the two-parter about the time Dr. Rich and I solved the case of “books for education.”  Part two.

His work in Afghanistan was a tremendous success. Our “brand” was readily recognizable and our counsel sought out by name. That for us military folks, is the pinnacle. When the commander says, “Have Rich and Pete figure this out," there is no higher accolade.

Jon and I wanted to have Rich on as a guest to make some sense of this post-election chaos we are experiencing.

Rich is a frequent contributor to the Break It Down Show, look for his episodes here and here.

Among the many things we got from Rich in this episode were 3 things one must do to be a good citizen in a democracy. 

1.    Educate—This means filtering through the thousands of sources of information. Challenge your beliefs. He specifically asks us to navigate via intersection. We have to hold ourselves accountable for the knowledge we use to establish our position. In the age of clickbait and memes, understand that stories are written to go “viral” not to provide unbiased hard news.

Increasingly, content creators from foreign countries are creating postable/sharable “news” influencing our electorate. Would it surprise anyone to find out that the meme saying “President Obama Sucks” is written to enrich the same company that writes, “Great Job Mr. President”? Take responsibility for your knowledge.

2.    Participate—Voting is important. However, we have to do more. I sit on a county sub-committee that works on pedestrian issues. If we don’t like the outcome of an election, there is another one coming soon. If that’s not fast paced enough, every city, county and state has areas where one can contribute.

Those entities are eager for your participation. The power resides with us, take some. Get in front of your vote. Be on the end of the equation where measures and propositions are created. Further, write members of congress. Let them know what you think so they can better represent you.

3.    Tolerate—George Washington’s parting advice to us was to avoid political parties; we didn’t listen. No one person or group has the answers. People aren’t binary. People evolve. Seek to understand.

An antonym for tolerate is bigot. It’s easy to call someone a bigot, but that’s likely a bigoted statement. Calling someone an “Idiot” essentially makes you a “Dick.” Instead of degrading the person you are talking to, ask questions. The standard isn’t agreeing with, it’s simply tolerate. I suggest finding something you agree on and put your efforts jointly into that. 

Dr. Rich as always is entertaining and someone I look forward to talking to. In a nation gone Trump crazy, Dr. Ledet asks us to meet the minimum standard for a good citizen in a democracy: educate, participate and tolerate.  

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