Post class with Dr. John Barry

I really enjoyed having John in class today. I felt he made many good points and helped me put into words some of the conflicts that had been going through in my head. One dilemma that I find especially conflicted about that he brought up is the balance between remaining true to your ideals and not achieving anything and actually getting things done. This really made me rethink my belief that one needs to uphold ones morals at all times for the sake of remaining virtuous and standing true to what you believe in. I think he was right in saying that sometimes it is okay to compromise in order to get things done as long as remain aware of what you are doing and stay "self vigilant."

I think he also made a good point in bringing up time and the size of the issue as factors that need to be taken into account when judging. I feel like we haven't specifically talked about these factors before but they are especially key when we are judging situational responsibility. Both of these factors impact the amount of knowledge every actor has in situations and it really changes the morality depending on whether the education was available, given the time and however small or large the issue.

Another thing that I thought was very interesting was hearing him have such an emphasis on rotation in political leadership. It's not often that you hear a politician say that people who have more experience in a position may not always know better. I guess I may have to disagree with him here because he said that Power will always corrupt, and this goes way back to the beginning of the semester, but I still don't hold that to be true. I mean I look at people like Karen Clark, a represtative in the Cities and she's been in the office for like 20 years and is still fighting for environmental justice within her district. She may not always have been fighting this fight but she actually realized it while listening to her constituents. I mean I definitely see an increased risk in corruption the longer you hold one powerful role because just in the fact that you aren't letting others have the opportunity to learn seems kind of corrupt but I don't think it always has to be that way. I really respected hearing that from a politician holding a leadership role and who will be stepping down soon.

One last note is that I really enjoyed what he said when he was talking about the difference between a politician and a statesperson is that a politician thinks only of the next election whereas a true statesperson thinks of the next generation. This was something that I felt was very important especially in regards towards legislation based around the environment. I really liked the idea that you shouldn't only just be thinking of getting reelected but the larger implications of your actions.

I'm really glad that we got to here from John today.