{"id":550,"date":"2006-01-30T05:57:35","date_gmt":"2006-01-30T13:57:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/archives\/2006\/01\/30\/federal-governance-and-its-discontents\/"},"modified":"2006-01-30T06:03:16","modified_gmt":"2006-01-30T14:03:16","slug":"federal-governance-and-its-discontents","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/archives\/2006\/01\/30\/federal-governance-and-its-discontents","title":{"rendered":"Federal Governance And Its Discontents"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>This is sort of ran\u00addom, but I find it fas\u00adci\u00adnat\u00ading so please bear with me:<\/p>\n<p>When\u00adev\u00ader pow\u00ader is split between one cen\u00adtral and sev\u00ader\u00adal region\u00adal author\u00adi\u00adties, we are talk\u00ading about a fed\u00ader\u00adal sys\u00adtem of gov\u00ader\u00adnance. The most obvi\u00adous Amer\u00adi\u00adcan exam\u00adple is the fed\u00ader\u00adal gov\u00adern\u00adment (Wash\u00ading\u00adton, D.C.) ver\u00adsus the state gov\u00adern\u00adments.<\/p>\n<p><strong>In a fed\u00ader\u00adal sys\u00adtem of gov\u00ader\u00adnance there is a built-in ten\u00adden\u00adcy towards ten\u00adsion between the cen\u00adtral author\u00adi\u00adty and the region\u00adal author\u00adi\u00adties.<\/strong> <\/p>\n<p>Each side is try\u00ading to do the best they can from their per\u00adpec\u00adtive, yet each side keeps mak\u00ading deci\u00adsions that don\u2019t make sense from the oth\u00ader side\u2019s per\u00adspec\u00adtive. This results in a lack of con\u00adfi\u00addence in the oth\u00ader side. Most region\u00adal author\u00adi\u00adties prob\u00ada\u00adbly have a 85\u201395% con\u00adfi\u00addence fac\u00adtor in the nation\u00adal lead\u00ader\u00adship (which is rec\u00adi\u00adp\u00adro\u00adcat\u00aded by the nation\u00adal author\u00adi\u00adty). This dis\u00adtrust cen\u00adters on two areas: com\u00adpe\u00adtence and char\u00adac\u00adter.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>incom\u00adplete trust in com\u00adpe\u00adtence: I believe that you mean well, but that you lack the nec\u00ades\u00adsary atten\u00adtion to detail\/big pic\u00adture perspective\/fundraising knack\/writing ability\/knowledge of the issues\/etc.<\/li>\n<li>incom\u00adplete trust in char\u00adac\u00adter: I don\u2019t think that you\u2019re evil, but I do think that you\u2019re oper\u00adat\u00ading with a dif\u00adfer\u00adent set of val\u00adues than I am. You define hon\u00adesty dif\u00adfer\u00adent\u00adly than I do, or you have a per\u00adson\u00adal as well as an orga\u00adni\u00adza\u00adtion\u00adal agen\u00adda, or you lack the courage to dis\u00adap\u00adpoint peo\u00adple, etc.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>I\u2019m not talk\u00ading about a com\u00adplete lack of con\u00adfi\u00addence, mind you. I\u2019m mere\u00adly talk\u00ading about a lack of com\u00adplete con\u00adfi\u00addence. A com\u00adplete lack of con\u00adfi\u00addence calls for dras\u00adtic action. A lack of com\u00adplete con\u00adfi\u00addence calls for mid-course adjust\u00adments.<\/p>\n<p>Some spe\u00adcif\u00adic exam\u00adples of a lack of com\u00adplete con\u00adfi\u00addence:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\u201cWill this real\u00adly hap\u00adpen or is it just a big todo about noth\u00ading?\u201d (char\u00adac\u00adter)<\/li>\n<li>\u201cThis is what they say here and now, what will the emails say in three months?\u201d (char\u00adac\u00adter)<\/li>\n<li>\u201cThis is what they want to do, but can they real\u00adly pull it off?\u201d (com\u00adpe\u00adtence)<\/li>\n<li>\u201cAre they will\u00ading to actu\u00adal\u00adly enforce this pol\u00adi\u00adcy or it real\u00adly going to be the same-old same-old?\u201d (com\u00adpe\u00adtence and char\u00adac\u00adter)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>The Assem\u00adblies of God tends to use a fed\u00ader\u00adal sys\u00adtem of gov\u00ader\u00adnance:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Spring\u00adfield, MO ver\u00adsus Dis\u00adtrict Offi\u00adcials<\/li>\n<li>Dis\u00adtrict Offi\u00adcials ver\u00adsus Sec\u00adtion\u00adal Pres\u00adbyters<\/li>\n<li>the nation\u00adal youth depart\u00adment ver\u00adsus the dis\u00adtrict youth depart\u00adments<\/li>\n<li>Chi Alpha (see my notes on <a href=\"http:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/archives\/2006\/01\/24\/chi-alphas-advisory-leadership-team\/\"> a Chi Alpha lead\u00ader\u00adship team meet\u00ading<\/a>)\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Since we have a fed\u00ader\u00adal sys\u00adtem of gov\u00ader\u00adnance we should\u00adn\u2019t be sur\u00adprised when the same ten\u00adsions emerge in our move\u00adment that we see in oth\u00ader fed\u00ader\u00adal orga\u00adni\u00adza\u00adtions. But we are sur\u00adprised. Not only are we sur\u00adprised, we tend to diag\u00adnose it as a spir\u00adi\u00adtu\u00adal prob\u00adlem such as dis\u00aduni\u00adty, a fail\u00adure to sub\u00admit to author\u00adi\u00adty, an exam\u00adple of uneth\u00adi\u00adcal lead\u00ader\u00adship, or the politi\u00adciza\u00adtion of a spir\u00adi\u00adtu\u00adal orga\u00adni\u00adza\u00adtion. <\/p>\n<p>While a spir\u00adi\u00adtu\u00adal prob\u00adlem may be present and exac\u00ader\u00adbat\u00ading the sit\u00adu\u00ada\u00adtion, it\u2019s not the causal fac\u00adtor. The ten\u00adden\u00adcy towards ten\u00adsion is pro\u00adduced by the struc\u00adture itself.<\/p>\n<p>Is the fed\u00ader\u00adal sys\u00adtem a bad sys\u00adtem of gov\u00ader\u00adnance? No. It just pro\u00advides us with chal\u00adlenges that we need to over\u00adcome: oth\u00ader sys\u00adtems pro\u00advide oth\u00ader chal\u00adlenges and there is no panacea.<\/p>\n<p>So what should we do if we real\u00adize that a lack of con\u00adfi\u00addence is hin\u00adder\u00ading our effec\u00adtive\u00adness? <\/p>\n<p>A few things occur to me:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Remem\u00adber that this is a nat\u00adur\u00adal prob\u00adlem, not an intrin\u00adsi\u00adcal\u00adly spir\u00adi\u00adtu\u00adal one.<\/li>\n<li>Remem\u00adber that this is not evi\u00addence of a fail\u00ading orga\u00adni\u00adza\u00adtion or fail\u00ading lead\u00ader\u00adship. This will recur over time regard\u00adless of the orga\u00adni\u00adza\u00adtion\u2019s health or the lead\u00ader\u00adship\u2019s com\u00adpe\u00adtence (although the fre\u00adquen\u00adcy and dura\u00adtion of the cycles of mis\u00adtrust will tell you some\u00adthing sig\u00adnif\u00adi\u00adcant about the orga\u00adni\u00adza\u00adtion and its lead\u00aders).<\/li>\n<li>Real\u00adize that you would prob\u00ada\u00adbly agree with the oth\u00ader side if you had their respon\u00adsi\u00adbil\u00adi\u00adties and resources. You\u2019ve seen it a mil\u00adlion times: some\u00adone who pre\u00advi\u00adous\u00adly agreed with you changed posi\u00adtions and all of a sud\u00adden became unrea\u00adson\u00adable. You would do the same thing.<\/li>\n<li>Be reluc\u00adtant to crit\u00adi\u00adcize where you are not will\u00ading to help. I say \u201cbe reluc\u00adtant\u201d rather than \u201crefuse\u201d because some\u00adtimes you\u2019re asked for feedback\u2013giving it hon\u00adest\u00adly is a mat\u00adter of integri\u00adty.<\/li>\n<li>Be frank about the ten\u00adsions and their rea\u00adsons. Forth\u00adright\u00adness is the long-term key to health. Pre\u00adtend\u00ading that they aren\u2019t there exac\u00ader\u00adbates the ten\u00adsion.<\/li>\n<li>Focus on the issues and not the per\u00adson\u00adal\u00adi\u00adties (and most assured\u00adly not on the his\u00adto\u00adry).<\/li>\n<li>Pray.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This is sort of ran\u00addom, but I find it fas\u00adci\u00adnat\u00ading so please bear with me: When\u00adev\u00ader pow\u00ader is split between one cen\u00adtral and sev\u00ader\u00adal region\u00adal author\u00adi\u00adties, we are talk\u00ading about a fed\u00ader\u00adal sys\u00adtem of gov\u00ader\u00adnance. The most obvi\u00adous Amer\u00adi\u00adcan exam\u00adple is the fed\u00ader\u00adal gov\u00adern\u00adment (Wash\u00ading\u00adton, D.C.) ver\u00adsus the state gov\u00adern\u00adments. In a fed\u00ader\u00adal sys\u00adtem of \u2026 <a href=\"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/archives\/2006\/01\/30\/federal-governance-and-its-discontents\" class=\"more-link\">Con\u00adtin\u00adue read\u00ading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> \u201cFed\u00ader\u00adal Gov\u00ader\u00adnance And Its Dis\u00adcon\u00adtents\u201d<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wp_typography_post_enhancements_disabled":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[10,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-550","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-assemblies-of-god","category-of-random-interest"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6Ded-8S","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/550","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=550"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/550\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=550"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=550"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=550"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}