This is an essay I wrote for a scholarship to Georgetown's PPI. What do you all think?
I'm sitting in the back passenger seat of an old, old car. President George W. Bush is driving. Behind him, next to me, sits President Clinton; in front of me is Mahatma Gandhi.
The president isn't doing such a good job driving. He keeps looking down at his feet, motioning with his hands, turning around to argue with President Clinton - who, for his part, incessantly shouts at Mr. Bush. It seems Mr. Clinton thinks he knows where we're going; his shouts appear to be directions, but they're more like a disjointed string of positions on why we were lost, wrong turns we had taken, and gas stations we had passed. At first, I'm filled with anger. But after a few minutes of the non-stop arguing, I become incredibly frustrated. I want to say something, tell these guys to stop fighting and get us back on track. But they're too busy calling one another names to listen.
Gandhi turns to me and says: "Be the change you want to see in the world."
What bothers me the most about politics today is the incessant bickering, non-stop posturing and pervasive positioning that defines any political discussion. It seems substance has been tossed aside for sound bites, and discussion dominated by partisan name-calling. Perhaps I'm an idealistic political neophyte, but I believe the role of government is to solve problems, not point fingers and blame the other guy for causing them.
Despite the partisan antics of the talking heads on cable news, I believe politics can solve real problems. As I become more politically aware, it becomes increasingly clear that the most important work is done in the trenches. Not simply the backroom political hacks trading votes, creating platforms and determining political strategy. I'm talking about the number crunchers who feed those backroom hacks their information. I'm thinking of the aide staying up all night revising the language of a bill over which the hacks haggle, filling the proverbial backroom with cigar smoke and bellicose laughter. I want to be the guy who has the great policy initiative, the great idea that helps a candidate make her name on the national scene.
Georgetown's Public Policy Institute can equip me with the tools I need to make my dreams come true. Outside of Hollywood movies, no one can simply walk into a town like Washington, DC and make an immediate impact on the established way of doing things. With a degree from the GPPI, I feel I will have a few unique advantages over other young, idealistic political agitators - a uniquely comprehensive education, and an immediately identifiable alma mater, committed to helping me become the force I want to become.
Firstly, the GPPI's program will round out my education, complement my current skills and force me to think differently. With my background as an English major, I'm adept at arguing interpretations; my two years as a classroom teacher fostered in me a strong inquisitive streak, as well as an uncanny ability to recognize a weakness - in a student's writing, critical thinking, or logic - and help to correct it. What I need to work on is my understanding of the quantitative side of problem solving. In other words, I think I can understand why a problem needs to be solved, and even brainstorm potential solutions; the coursework at the GPPI will prepare me to turn around and find ways to make those solutions viable. This new way of looking at problems will enable me to see both the practical and the idealistic, pie-in-the-sky resolutions.
Secondly, being enrolled at Georgetown's Public Policy Institute will open doors for me like no other masters program. If Washington is a town where who you know determines - to some extent - how much change you can `be,' then Georgetown certainly prides itself on being the driving force behind decades of change. From aspects as abstract as name recognition, to ideas as simple as forging contacts with political operatives, Georgetown doesn't simply open doors for its graduates: it throws them open, pushes the grads out and announces to the world they're ready to start working - so let the job interviews begin...
A crucial aspect of both of these advantages is the faculty and coursework at the GPPI. With full-time professors like E.J. Dionne, visiting scholars such as Tom Daschle, and program tracks tailored to my own interests (political campaigns), the GPPI offers me a way into the career I want; it enables me to seize the day, become the force I want, and `be the change' I wish to see.