WHAT IS RIGHT?
Item 5, "Doing right is more important than politics" is both a complex and assumption related statement. It's perhaps best for anyone desiring to do what is right to define the word. Right is analogous to beauty, often found only in the eye of the beholder. In the definition of this word one needs to know, as Ernest May of Harvard has often observed, the individual's history in the head. Life experiences can effectively mold an individual's definition that is critical to identifying one's underlying assumption.
Is right literally to be found only in the person defining the word, if so it can simply be a restatement of a person's strong internal, personal, and prejudicial preference. Some leaders literally act as if they know what is right for everyone. However, right can also be externalized in seeking a definition by asking "what do most people conclude constitutes right?"
Right is more important than politics? Right can also be viewed as a complex word. In our democratic form of government the Bill of Rights and the Constitution require of our leaders that they have the consent of those they would seek to govern. As uncomfortable as that mandate is for a chief executive who has fought long and hard for the office he now holds, the political consensus component cannot be excluded from any working definition of right. I am not arguing that the majority is always correct. I do assume however that negotiation and compromise often lead to a broader perhaps more effective definition as to what is truly right.
Perhaps the founders in their infinite wisdom were mindful of the ancient scriptures that state, there is safety in a multitude of counselors. Absent in literature written about democracies is any definition of right based on secret deals and decisions which have not had the benefit of serious public discussion.
What is right? Again, like beauty it may well be in the eye of the beholder. It also could result from any premise validated by discussion, morality, ethics, and reason. Being a Douglas Mcgregor, Theory Y person, I have found wisely distributed among America's millions of citizens many talented, intelligent, working, freedom loving Americans who have great ideas and opinions that can assist any listening President in arriving at a definition of right. I am not convinced that all knowledge and correctness is merely invested in one person. Autocracies and dictators don't work for me, I am an American.
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