In the winter of 1959, Alaska became a state. A few months later I was working on a maintenance crew at Elmendorf Air Force Base just outside of Anchorage. My education on life sped up; the men I was working with were not reluctant to take a teenager into their confidence and, of course, tell me what to do.
Most had come from what Alaskans called the “Lower 48.” Almost all had staked a claim to 40 acres under the State’s homestead provision. They had built a foundation (required) on their wilderness property. Each fall they took both a moose and caribou, which, along with smoked salmon, made up a large part of their family’s diet. Beef imported from the Lower 48 was quite expensive.
The men I worked with were adventurers and wanderers. They had become dissatisfied with the routine of their former lives and, not unlike those who settled the West, were pushing out to the new frontier. Today, America’s geography has been thoroughly settled. While small levels of migration continue from East to West, the most notable movement is in recreation vehicles.
Adventure today is less defined by travel than by the mind. Today’s frontiers are driven by imagination, and the most useful tool is the computer. In every job category being able to use the tool of analysis, planning, and management improves the job experience and rewards.
America is again at that quadrennial moment when Presidential candidates strive to capture our imagination and suggest a better future if we will just vote for them. The actual showdown between the nominees of the two major parties has just begun. It is already apparent, however, that our future will not be represented in meaningful debate.
Geography, not education, defines Donald Trump’s campaign. He promises walls, a return to coal mining, and tariffs on cross-border trade. Hillary Clinton is almost as defensive, having chosen to call for a re-negotiation of the NAFTA trade agreement, which her husband signed, and coming out against the Trans-Pacific Partnership which, as Secretary of State, she supported. Trump, of course, is against both.
Neither candidate has spent any real time on education — the only pathway to prosperity in the 21st Century. There is no place to hide. Alaska is settled, and environmental considerations preclude meaningful growth in extractive industries.
The absence of new physical frontiers is, I suspect, a troubling fact to the men I got to know in Alaska and their spiritual heirs. They want undeveloped territories. They are prepared to move and work hard to make their fortune. Yet global communication networks have minimized the advantages of geography while giving everybody access to educational riches.
Donald Trump, in particular, exploits this frustration. He loudly asserts that somehow he can make American great again. The predicate is wrong, and the assertion is dangerous.
America’s greatness results from its founding documents and institutions, striving citizenry, continental scale, abundant resources, and open debate and resolution. George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, and other great leaders would not, if they could speak from the grave, claim they made America great. Alexander Hamilton who we now celebrate musically was an immigrant.
Our greatest leaders were both humble and bold. In humility, they recognized their limitations and in boldness they recognized the strength of the nation they empowered and led. And each, as history recognizes, sought divine, not merely temporal, guidance.
Donald Trump’s constant assertion that he will make America great and the absence of even a hint of humility are self-defeating. Donald Trump’s greatest threat is not from Hillary Clinton; it is from himself.
But, let me close by returning to individual imagination and the will to prosperity. Ironically, the nation confronts economic anxiety at the same time it confronts over one trillion dollars in student debt. Many young people have found college to be chimerical– promising more than it can deliver.
Opportunity needs a redefinition, and educational policy needs to respond. One response must be a linkage between aptitude, attitude, and market opportunity. Throwing more and more money into failed promises and institutions of elementary, secondary, and higher education will not get the job done.
Al Sikes is the former Chair of the Federal Communications Commission under George H.W. Bush. Al recently published Culture Leads Leaders Follow published by Koehler Books.
Jack Thompson says
“…Global communication networks have minimized the advantages of geography while giving everybody access to educational riches.”
– AL Sikes August 3, 2016
Al, Want to make a difference? Please help us bring these “communications networks” and “educational riches” to Talbot County.