Eyes on the Prize

A quick morning post after a bit of reflection about the events of the past couple of days in the Senate and my post from yesterday morning.

My general view hasn’t changed - we need to continue to push to change culture and elect fighters in the Senate and the House, and the Senators who voted for cloture yesterday on the ending the shutdown need to, well, retire or be retired.

In my professional and personal lives, one of my mantras was/is “Eyes on the Prize”:

1. Professionally, I always coached my leadership and downstream teams to keep their focus on the organization’s mission, vision, values and goals - both long and short term. My view was that every action they took should be furthering their goals, and not to get distracted by the panoply of everyday events that might get in the way (easier said than done - in my view, one of the key facets of leadership means finding a way to motivate your team to do the best job they can to all pull in the desired direction for the desired result).

2. Personally, the spouse and I took the same approach with our kids. “Eyes on the Prize” was used to help them focus on their goals: participating on sports or academic teams, having a healthy social life, living by the Golden Rule, doing well in school, applying to college, etc. We took a non-judgmental approach but counseled our children that before reacting emotionally to something, they should think about the potential repercussions of their actions and what they truly wanted to achieve through their actions (sound easy in theory - wasn’t always easy in practice. I mean - kids, right? Thank God they didn’t ask what I did as a young’un growing up)

So, realistically, what does “Eyes on the Prize mean for progressives/liberals/Democrats right now? I’ll start:

• Minimize the harm being done by an evil administration

• Set the stage for a massive electoral victory in the 2026 midterms.

Passing meaningful progressive legislation is unlikely while the Republicans hold a trifecta. We need to use every tool in the box, every arrow in our quiver, every political maneuver, as long as its not illegal, to achieve these goals (forget about adhering to “norms” - they blew past that barrier a long time ago and we can’t fight back with one arm tied behind our back by adhering to unwritten norms). Don’t ask for permission; only ask for forgiveness.

They’ve screwed up the economy, broken laws, taken unconstitutional actions, sicced the military on our own citizens/residents and generally instituted an authoritarian regime. Regardless of the cloture vote, it is Republicans who want to increase the price of healthcare. It is Republicans who are willing to starve our own people for political gain. It is Republicans who are ignoring judges’ orders. It is Republicans who are singling out ethnic/religious/gender/socio-economic groups for different treatment.

Again, the Dem Gang of 8 should not have caved. It was a bad move and there should be consequences for all of them. But we can recognize that they were also put in a very difficult position because Republicans were willing to do bad things to gain leverage while we are not. 

Unlike the opposition, we can walk and chew gum at the same time. Unlike the opposition, we actually care about doing “good” by doing “right”. Unlike the opposition, we want a better society for everyone (not just the white and the wealthy). This means simultaneously holding our own accountable while keeping our Eyes on the Prize by focusing everything we’ve got on the two bullet points I listed above.

I’ve been in the arena. Life for candidates and elected officials is not always cut and dried. In a complex world that can require difficult policy and support/oppose decisions, the right tactics to achieve strategic goals are not always easy to discern.

Eyes on the Prize people.

What does that mean to each of you? I’d love to know…