Bush's Government: An Unlearning and Disabled Organization
By Mario deSantis, September 16, 2006

I am very partial to the conceptual understanding of the Learning Organization as explained by Peter Senge in his book The Fifth Discipline[1]. Since I bought this book in 1995 I have periodically referred to it when I want to rationalize the current worldwide political, business and social events.

Senge states that the learning organization is the organization of the future and it taps on the natural capacity of their members to learn (to dialogue), and contribute to the their own growth, the growth of the organization and the growth of their communities.

In the 1993 “Summit on Reinventing Government,” then US Vice-President Al Gore praised Senge for explaining the distinction between discussion and dialogue and he stated that dialogue is “a process by which meaning comes through.” And now I laugh when I think that the Bush Government is re-inventing government backward as Bush finds his inspiration for his public policies in his 'Higher Father' rather than in our common good to dialogue.

I may describe the Bush Government as an Unlearning and Disabled Organization whose public policies at home and abroad are disabling people at large to live in peace and successfully. Senge states that organizations which are unable to learn are affected by these fundamental disabilities[2]:

1. I am my position

2. The enemy is out there

3. The illusion of taking charge

4. The fixation on events

5. The parable of the boiled frog

6. The delusion of learning from experience

7. The myth of the management team

The Bush Government is chronically affected by the above mentioned disabilities and I provide experienced examples for these disabilities.

1. I am in my position; that is the disability of not dialoguing because of a privileged position of power. Example. In one interview journalist Bob Woodward conducted with president Bush, he asked if Bush consulted with his father before taking the decision to invade Iraq. Bush answered “He [Bush Senior] is the wrong father to appeal to for advice. The wrong father to go to, to appeal to in terms of strength... There's a higher Father that I appeal to[3].” President Bush believes that he has a divine calling and therefore he can do no wrong.

2. The enemy is out there; since president Bush has a divine calling he doesn't listen, he doesn't learn and he blames others for his own shortcomings. Example. In his last speech of September 11 Bush identified the enemy in the streets of Baghdad when he stated “The safety of America depends on the outcome of the battle in the streets of Baghdad[4].”

3. The illusion of taking charge; president Bush is a puppet of the American neo-uber-alles. Example. Author Brent Budowsky has recently stated that “The man who campaigned as the Great Uniter, and declared himself the Great Decider, will burn in history as the Great Divider with all of the catastrophic consequences that are escalating every hour, of every day[5].”

4. The fixation on events; Senge argues that the primary threats to our survival are not from sudden events, but from slow and gradual processes. Therefore, I don't believe that 911 changed the world all of a sudden, and in fact the world has been changing mostly because of the flawed foreign policies of the United States[6].  Example. The war in Iraq has eroded the reputation of the United States around the world and Bush is becoming more reactionary in calling for more wars[7].

5. The parable of the boiled frog; The failure to adapt to gradually building threats to survival is extremely pervasive in the Bush administration. Consequential Example. The staying the course of Bush's tax cuts[8], of Bush's wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and elsewhere, and of Bush's push for an ownership society[9] would have the unintended consequence of higher taxes, a more divided society, and more wars in the future.

6. The delusion of learning from experience; We all must learn how to live better from our own experiences, however we cannot learn adequately under the current brainwashing social and economic orthodoxy. Example. There is no way that the Bush administration can learn from experience since they are a lying government[10] representing the entrenched interest of the elite[11].

7. The myth of the management team; The conventional fad 'management team' has been debunked by professor Chris Argyris who in coining the word ‘skilled incompetence’ has described 'the management team' as “teams full of people who are incredibly proficient at keeping themselves from learning.” Example. In the case of the Bush administration the team is comprised mostly of uber-alles patriots[12], of born again Christians[13].. Therefore, the Bush team is not only incompetent but it is dangerously taking the world towards their prophetized Armageddon[14].

The moral of this story is that the Bush Administration is not a learning organization and therefore it cannot provide a governmental vision for the good of the people at large. Let us hope we can get rid of Bush's inspirational and factual disabilites before his self-prophetized Armageddon is upon us.

References

[1] deSantis, Mario 'The Learning Organization, and Knowledge Economy'; Ensign, September 20, 1998 http://www.desantis.hypermart.net/EnsignStories_001-100/Ensign_story011/story011.htm

[2] Sidorowicz, Rick “Senge's Self Limiting Learning Disabilities”; The CEO Refresher http://www.refresher.com/!learning.html

[3] 60 Minutes 'Journalist Describes Secret Details On White House's Plans For War'; CBS, April 18, 2004 http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/04/15/60minutes/main612067.shtml

[4] White House “President's Address to the Nation”; September 11, 2006 http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2006/09/20060911-3.html

[5] Budowsky, Brent 'Bush Exploited, Shamed 9/11'; Consortiumnews.com, September 10, 2006 http://www.consortiumnews.com/2006/091006a.html

[6] Dalforno, Steve 'Blowback and the Sorrows of Empire: An interview with Chalmers Johnson'; Z magazine, November 2003 http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/American_Empire/Blowback_Sorrows_Empire.html

[7] Holland, Joshua “Bush's Dark 9/11 Speech Calls for More Wars”; AlterNet, September 13, 2006 http://www.alternet.org/waroniraq/41550/

[8] Hartmann, Thom 'an excerpt from Screwed: The Undeclared War Against the Middle Class…and What We Can Do About It'; Berrett-Koehler Publishers http://www.thomhartmann.com/screwed/screwed-ch-3.pdf

[9] Ownership Society http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ownership_society

[10] Postel, Danny 'Noble lies and perpetual war: Leo Strauss, the neocons, and Iraq'; OpenDemocracy, October 16, 2003 http://www.opendemocracy.net/debates/article.jsp?id=5&debateId=107&articleId=1542

[11] DEMOCRACY NOW! 'Transcript: Paul Krugman on the New Class War in America'; June 19, 2006 http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/06/19/1340247

[12] Project for the New American Century http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_for_the_New_American_Century

[13] Madsen, Wayne “Bush's Christian Blood Cult: Concerns Raised by the Vatican”; CounterPunch, April 22, 2003 http://www.counterpunch.org/madsen04222003.html

[14] Roberts, Paul Craig “Bush's Armageddon Wish: A Final End to History?”; The Baltimore Chronicle, June 14, 2006 http://baltimorechronicle.com/2006/061406Roberts.shtml