Show or Tell

Back in writing classes we used to be taught, “Show, Don’t Tell.” It’s the difference between saying, “He cares so much about people,” and “He stopped during the campaign, when no media were around, and helped us dig up a tree stump.”

The contrast between showing and telling came up during Ryan’s speech last week:

President Obama was asked not long ago to reflect on any mistakes he might have made. He said, well, "I haven't communicated enough." He said his job is to "tell a story to the American people"— as if that's the whole problem here? He needs to talk more, and we need to be better listeners?

Ladies and gentlemen, these past four years we have suffered no shortage of words in the White House. What's missing is leadership in the White House. And the story that Barack Obama does tell, forever shifting blame to the last administration, is getting old. The man assumed office almost four years ago— isn't it about time he assumed responsibility?

I’ve intended, to be fair, to give some listening time to the DNC convention this week, after enjoying so many inspiring speeches during last week’s RNC convention. But I don’t have the stomach to do the full job as a journalist would be required to do. So mostly here today I’m going to share a few memorable phrases and speeches.

There has been a false narrative for a long time about “those evil, rich Republicans,” and that class envy theme is a basic attack this campaign. Of all the candidates they could use this against, Obama’s team is stuck with characterizing Mitt Romney this way. When they do the story telling, it’s pretty rough.

There’s a now-famous ad, where they try to tie him in to the death of a woman (available on YouTube, but blocked now because it’s so provably false). Two years after Romney left Bain Capital to run the Salt Lake Olympics, Bain decided to close a plant. A man named Joe Soptic was offered a buyout, with which he could continue to keep his insurance; he chose not to take it. So when the plant closed, he was without income and insurance, until he found another job. His wife was still employed and insured for some years hence. He eventually got a new job but for some reason chose not to purchase insurance for his wife. She suffered an accident that led to her being unable to do her previous job, and her insurance was not continued, and he did not then begin purchasing insurance for her. Some 5-6 years after the closing of the plant (probably 7+ years after Romney left), Mr. Soptic’s wife died of cancer. When he took her to the hospital, where she got a diagnosis and care even without insurance, she had stage 4 cancer and died in a matter of weeks.

His claim that it was Romney’s fault his wife died of cancer is about as sturdy as a cobweb. But he was a real person, whose wife actually did die of cancer, so the storytellers went with it. If there were a better actual story of harm done by Romney, don’t you think they would have told it?

Romney has a hard time telling people, “No, really, I’m kind and generous.” It goes against the grain to tell that, when you really are that. So it took others to tell the true story about him. It started with Ann Romney’s speech, which portrayed him as real and caring. She has been telling this about him for years; her story about how he cared for her when she was sticken with MS and unsure whether she’d ever be able to walk and function again, is powerful and memorable—and very real. But not new, except that suddenly more people are hearing her.

But the newer stories were the community friends he has quietly helped over the years. Pat and Ted Oparowski told their story of a dying teenage son then Mitt Romney had gone out of his way to care for.

And Pam Finlayson told of her daughter, born premature, who received personal care and support from the Romneys, up through her death at age 26, a year ago. This story was especially touching to me; our first child was born 3 ½ months early, and we got to keep him with us only a few hours, so I know what her worry must have been. We had friends sit with us in the hospital as well. One of these close friends later went to grad school at MIT and ended up living in Belmont, MA, for many years. I’m sure this woman’s story is true, because I have known people who have lived that story in my life.

The Romney acts of kindness are summarized in this American Thinker article.

Romney is a doer, not a teller.

I’m happy to see that is true of his running mate, Ryan, as well. I kept the transcript of his inspiring speech, and share here a few of my favorite moments:

·         Before the math and the momentum overwhelm us all, we are going to solve this nation's economic problems.

·         After four years of government trying to divide up the wealth, we will get America creating wealth again.

·         President Obama is the kind of politician who puts promises on the record, and then calls that the record.

·         College graduates should not have to live out their 20s in their childhood bedrooms, staring up at fading Obama posters and wondering when they can move out and get going with life. [Notice how much more effective this is than simply saying, “Too many young college graduates can’t get jobs,” which is true and concrete, but less vivid.]

·         When I was waiting tables, washing dishes, or mowing lawns for money, I never thought of myself as stuck in some station in life. I was on my own path, my own journey, an American journey where I could think for myself, decide for myself, define happiness for myself. That's what we do in this country. That's the American Dream. That's freedom, and I'll take it any day over the supervision and sanctimony of the central planners.

·         The man who will accept your nomination tomorrow is prayerful and faithful and honorable. Not only a defender of marriage, he offers an example of marriage at its best. Not only a fine businessman, he's a fine man, worthy of leading this optimistic and good-hearted country.

·         We will not try to replace our founding principles; we will reapply our founding principles.

While we’re talking about writing skills, that last one is an example of parallel structure, something Lincoln used to use with great effect: “But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate, we can not consecrate, we can not hallow this ground” ("Gettysburg Address").

I have long appreciated Romney’s speech writing. He says what he needs to for me to understand the ideas. But he is a better doer than teller. Ryan may be a better communicator of those same ideas. It’s a good match. But, with them together, we can expect action in the right direction, regardless of how the story is told.

Looking Up

Mitt Romney at GOP Convention
photo from Ann Romney's Facebook page

Here at the Spherical Model, instead of a left/right model, we have a three-dimensional model, with the good at the top: civilization, freedom, free enterprise. The southern hemisphere contains the bad: savagery, tyranny, controlled economy. The side-to-side direction is basically neutral, but based on interest, from individual/family at the center west, and expanding outward through local, state, regional, national, on up to  global perspective. The general rule is that the controller of decisions should be left to the most local level possible; otherwise there is usurpation of power, which is a tyrannical position (southern hemisphere).

So when I look at who I should vote for, I look at how well the candidates’ ideas line up with the principles that we know lead to civilization, freedom, and free enterprise. This week at the GOP convention (which I watched from home) has been a good week. A lot of looking up—how to get up to the northern, civilized, freedom zone.

Others may be watching for strategy, or for excitement that will motivate the army of activists to go get out the vote, or for some rhetoric so soaring that it will be remembered and compared in future years. I very much enjoy a brilliant, well-said phrase; I collect the quotable. But I mostly leave that kind of examination to others. I want to know the philosophy and character, to know how well it lines up with what we know will place us in the northern hemisphere of the Spherical Model.

There was much to enjoy in Paul Ryan’ talk, as well as speeches by Marco Rubio, Condoleeza Rice, Mia Love, Chris Christie, and others—and I may take a later post just to enjoy those. But what we need to know is whether we have upper hemisphere hopes from our future president—who will lead the direction of the country. And Romney’s speech did what it needed to for me.

He used the word “optimism” four times, and referred, in various ways, to hope for a better future a few more times. That in itself is upward looking—if it’s tied to the right principles. And I believe it is.

Some of what we need to know about Romney, I have known for a long time; it was a matter of getting the picture out for others, during a time when cynicism is so rampant that a decent family man who wants to serve others seems too good to be true. But he has indeed lived his life that way. Some of the telling had to come from others, and that happened this week. Ann Romney began to introduce this good man to people who hadn’t noticed before, or been willing to believe who he was. And that was followed by a string of actual recipients of his quiet, unpaid, unrecognized service. This must have gotten the story out, because after his speech, the PBS commentators stumbled, trying to come up with descriptors for the speech that clearly didn’t align with their worldview, but they decided to agree Romney is just, really, a decent man.

Does he believe in God, so that he can understand God is the giver of our inalienable rights? Yes. Does he live the Ten Commandments as the basic level of civilization? Yes, and refined with the Sermon on the Mount, I Corinthians 13, and other scriptural directions on how to be the person God wants you to be.

Does he place family as the central civilizing force? Yes.

About Paul Ryan, he said, “I love the way he lights up around his kids and how he's not embarrassed to show the world how much he loves his mom.”

About his parents, and then his and Ann’s family, he said:

My mom and dad gave their kids the greatest gift of all – the gift of unconditional love. They cared deeply about who we would BE, and much less about what we would DO.

Unconditional love is a gift that Ann and I have tried to pass on to our sons and now to our grandchildren. All the laws and legislation in the world will never heal this world like the loving hearts and arms of mothers and fathers. If every child could drift to sleep feeling wrapped in the love of their family--and God's love—this world would be a far more gentle and better place.

The line I highlighted lets us know, maybe more than anything, that this is not someone who believes in taking power to enforce government on minions.  This line, about connecting with his church and community, also tells us he understands how thriving civilization happens:

And that's how it is in America. We look to our communities, our faiths, our families for our joy, our support, in good times and bad. It is both how we live our lives and why we live our lives. The strength and power and goodness of America has always been based on the strength and power and goodness of our communities, our families, our faiths.

A look at Romney’s business record is an example for the world of free enterprise at its best. He told a little of the Bain story—and having it come after the “evil vulture capitalist” claim was revealed as a lie made it clear his success was real success. And that allowed him to say this:

These are American success stories. And yet the centerpiece of the President's entire re-election campaign is attacking success. Is it any wonder that someone who attacks success has led the worst economic recovery since the Great Depression? In America, we celebrate success, we don't apologize for it.

We know he understands and believes in the free enterprise system when he follows his story with this:

It's the genius of the American free enterprise system – to harness the extraordinary creativity and talent and industry of the American people with a system that is dedicated to creating tomorrow's prosperity rather than trying to redistribute today's.

That is why every president since the Great Depression who came before the American people asking for a second term could look back at the last four years and say with satisfaction: "you are better off today than you were four years ago."

Except Jimmy Carter. And except this president.

He didn’t have to be personally negative about President Obama; that would have seemed gratuitous piling on when it is clear to everyone—everyone—that he has failed to provide financial success, American freedom, and social thriving. Obama has failed because he follows the rules that keep people in the southern hemisphere of tyranny. He is literally a tyrant, whether he has the personality of other worldwide tyrants or not. But it isn’t necessary to use that kind of term; all that is necessary is to point out that what we want—personal freedom, economic opportunity, and thriving civilization—can be reached on a path that claims government control is the answer.

This was one of my favorite lines, because what I want during this campaign is to see clearly the truth about the candidates. This shows the contrast:

President Obama promised to begin to slow the rise of the oceans and heal the planet. MY promise...is to help you and your family.

He doesn’t mean he will micromanage your family from Washington; he means he will set an example of a strong family—and how to Dad—but also will help by getting roadblocks out of the way so families can succeed through hard work and helping one another. Economically, things will get better. Freedom will improve with adherence to the Constitution:

That America, that united America, will uphold the constellation of rights that were endowed by our Creator, and codified in our Constitution.

That united America will care for the poor and the sick, will honor and respect the elderly, and will give a helping hand to those in need.

That America is the best within each of us. That America we want for our children.

This is an America we remember, if we’re old enough and from the right places (I am both). And now I feel free to hope we will return to thriving. Things are indeed looking up.