Jeff Polet

Nov 5, 2024 | lawliberty.org | Jeffrey Polet |Jeff Polet |Paul Schwennesen |Daniel Pitt

Americans fetishize voting. Granted, exercising the right seems an important act of democratic citizenship, and denial of the franchise typically accompanies the denial of a whole range of civil rights and liberties. But our focus on voting, and especially national horse-races whose conclusions result from the plebiscite, too often distracts us from the real work of citizenship, which is studious attention and attendance to the near-at-hand.

Jul 18, 2024 | fordforum.org | Jeff Polet

by Jeff Polet, director of the Ford Leadership Forum, Gerald R. Ford Presidential FoundationOur policy for this “forum” is to avoid culture war issues, partisanship, and ripped-from-the-headlines breathless reporting. As we’ve said before: we want to see farther and deeper than the parties. But sometimes events occur that demand our attention. The near-assassination of a presidential candidate qualifies.

Jul 4, 2024 | fordforum.org | Jeff Polet

by Jeff Polet, director of the Ford Leadership Forum, Gerald R. Ford Presidential Foundation “Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” The substitution of “the pursuit of happiness” for “property” in this famous triumvirate may be simultaneously the most inspiring and most troubling rhetorical move in American history. Americans obsess about “happiness.” Whole academic disciplines are devoted to its study. We universally believe we have a “right” to it.

Jun 20, 2024 | fordforum.org | Jeff Polet

by Jeff Polet, director of the Ford Leadership Forum, Gerald R. Ford Presidential FoundationLast week I discussed the importance of symbols in political life, and of the flag in particular. In this essay, I want to explore both how the American flag gets repurposed toward ends other than its intended ones and what that all portends. Let’s begin with a couple of important speeches from the early part of the 20th century that come from the pen of Albert J.

May 9, 2024 | fordforum.org | Jeff Polet

by Jeff Polet, director of the Ford Leadership Forum, Gerald R. Ford Presidential Foundation “When fascism comes to America it will be wrapped in a flag and carrying a cross,” Sinclair Lewis probably never said. Regardless of its provenance, the snippet reflects the Nietzschean insight that power always disguises itself; it’s a play of masks so complex that even the actor wearing the mask loses track of the person beneath. The more power is at work, the more assiduously it disguises itself.