"The opposite of progress is Congress," they say.
While it is a joke, like all jokes, it stems from truth. And the truth in this joke incites different responses from all of us, from disgust at our current establishment to indifference to the inevitable to passion for making changes and improving the system. I’ve personally experienced responses from the entire spectrum at different times and moods from just this one joke.
This country of dreams and opportunities, the esteemed United States of America, ostensibly can’t get anything done; ostensibly, the government is a joke because we rarely see any results. Democracy is a failure, the legislature is not representative of the population, and the three branches sit and argue with each other all day, losing sight of urgent matters.
Yes, there is truth in all that—but this truth can also be interpreted with a long-term, wholesome perspective instead of a short-term, defeated perspective.
At CCNY’s 170th Commencement (view it on CCNY's video site), we heard much about this diversity that defines CCNY, defines this country, defines the cause for discrepancy among government.
Inarguably, Michelle Obama was the highlight of the commencement at a glance. However, valedictorian Antonios Mourdoukoutas deserves credit for his words on this unifying yet divisive diversity (starting at 92:35).
He reminds us that diversity is not only applicable to physical traits, but also to thought and to life experiences; “Diversity of people gives rise to diversity of thought” (98:10). It is these varying struggles, experiences, and therefore personalities to which we must contribute our great forward thinking. If we all were the leaders, all were the secretaries, or all were the technical engineers, he points out, we are doomed to fail. In order to succeed, we need a mixture of leaders, secretaries, and technical engineers—even if that means there will be some disputes about how to tackle an issue.
Diversity in thought is the consequence of diversity in people, and while lag may be a consequence of diversity in thought, there is a larger, more significant consequence: progress. It’s not exactly progress in terms of quantitative time, but rather mental and social progress.
Our nation is not homogeneous and our representatives are not clones of each other, so, of course, they have varying approaches because they have had varying experiences and live varying lives. This heterogeneity, like a free market, nurtures free minds, allowing ideas to enter and exit without barriers; the free flow enables us to adopt ideas from other people into our existing ones, creating new ideas altogether. We push our minds to think outside our respective comfort zones and enter someone else’s in order to understand each other so that we can compromise. Compromising: a skill that requires practice and the eradication of stubbornness. It is a skill learned through being surrounded by diversity and a plethora of choices. Compromising is how our nation proceeds—not stagnates, not ebbs.
You can think what you want of the jokes about Congress and of the way our government has taken their sweet time to implement actions. Even when we don’t see the results, however, we can’t deny that something is brewing in our capital.
Arguments? Sure. Corruption? Sure. Accusations and slanders? Sure. In spite of all that, our capital is the home of thought exchange and the birthplace of innovative ideas.
We owe that to the diversity of thought and experiences in our nation. So in response to that joke, I say, "There is no progress without Congress."
