“The USC Schwarzenegger Institute is committed to advancing post-partisanship, where leaders put people over political parties and work together to find the best ideas and solutions to benefit the people they serve.” This mission statement really resonates with me. The current gridlock in Congress and in our State Houses is destructive. I love the term “post-partisanship.” This is a concept that we need to work hard to achieve. And this was the first topic of the Institute’s inaugural symposium that I attended yesterday. On the stage was a distinguished group. Governor’s Charlie Crist, Bill Richardson, Tom Ridge and Arnold Schwarzenegger and Senators John McCain and Tom Daschle. The panel was moderated by Cokie Roberts. Tom Daschle made a point that reinforces what tends to come up in nearly every political conversation I have. “We’re no longer in the Cronkite era. Now we have news channels that aren’t observers but participants in partisanship.” And Tom Ridged echoed that thought. “Now we watch TV not to be educated, but to have our opinions confirmed. We must learn to respect others’ point of view.” I wish everyone, especially elected officials, could watch this entire panel. Leaders from both sides of the isle talking about the need for compromise and a shared purpose to get things done, not to get reelected. This is what is needed to get our country back on track. Governor Schwarzenegger summed it up “”If you believe you can only use the ideas of the right, or the left, you will never be able to move forward.”
At the luncheon, we had a panel titled “Local Solutions to Global Problems – Environment, Energy, and Climate.” The two panelist were Nobel Prize winner Dr. R.K. Pachauri, Chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and Long Beach Mayor Bob Foster. I had the honor of sitting with the panelists during lunch and was able to talk a bit of local engagement strategies with my own hometown mayor. “People say things like environmental action will eliminate jobs, when the opposite is true” said Dr. Pachauri. When discussing the challenges of governments to address environment issues, Mayor Foster said “we have lost our ability to plan for the long term”. He said that there have been successes, such as the Green Ports initiatives at our harbor, but much more can be achieved.
The afternoon session was titled “The Power of People and Innovation – Media/Hollywood Leaders’ Perspectives” and featured several panelists including Universal Studios President Ron Meyer and Imagine Entertainment Chairman Brian Grazer. This session, while interesting, seemed to lack focus and covered many different issues. Topics included intellectual property issues between entertainment companies and technology companies, music education to the power of the media to influence.
USC President Max Nikias started the day saying that the “Institute reflects a need to resolve the world’s most acute problems.” The Price School of Public Policy’s Dean, Jack Knott, said “Data show that the level of polarization in Congress is the highest it’s been in 100 years.” What elected officials and political pundits need to understand, and why this concept of post-partnership must be put into action, is simplified by these words from Governor Schwarzenegger “People don’t want to breathe Democratic air or Republican air. They just want to breathe clean air.
http://www.usc.edu/schools/price/research/centers/schwarzenegger/inaugural_symposium.html