Bismarck, Rayburn, and Palmerston

In several of the most recent posts about leadership, I think there is a consistent theme. In the lore of political process there are two competing philosophies of sound tactics. The first came from Sam Rayburn, the Speaker of the House in the 1940s and 1950s. Rayburn was a legendary figure (who actually has some very distant relationship to my family - his middle name was Taliaferro and I have some distant relatives with the same name). Rayburn advised young members of the House, "to get along, you need to go along."

The competing vision comes from Lord Palmerston, who like Rayburn, had a long and distinguished political career. Palmerston argued that Britain had "no permanent friends, no permanent enemies, only permanent interests." There are many times in the legislative and even the political process where going along will result in unreasonable accommodation to bad policy. I believe the higher education act just passed is one such going along. I also believe that following the yammerings of Secretary Spellings is another.

A third principle that might be applied came from the Iron Chancellor, Otto von Bismarck. He once said “There are two things you don’t want to see being made—sausage and legislation.” Perhaps when there is too much Rayburnism the process is particularly ugly.