Rat Poison

Former Alabama football coach Nick Saban famously used the phrase rat poison to describe the words the media was using to describe his team. His team was good, very good, but the media were falling over themselves to heap praise, finding no fault in anything they did. Coach Saban’s point was, becoming great was hard, staying great was infinitely harder. Said differently, staying on top was more difficult if everyone believed they were great and failed to see problems that could lead to a loss.

I have historically referenced sports analogies to provide clarity on topics that might be opaque. Other than liking sports, my primary reason for using sports is the immediacy of results and the ability to draw rapid conclusions. Consider it this way: a sports team measures its success or failure by wins and losses. There is no hiding the outcome. As has been famously said, “You are what your record says you are.”

With Saban, he knew that if his players believed all the compliments written about them (if they drank the rat poison); they were in danger of losing.

Life, unlike sports, rarely has immediate feedback. The outcomes of leaders’ actions are often unknown for months or even years, and then it is not always easy to diagnose the cause of the result. That is why it is silly to view our political leader’s actions in the short term.

However, I think it is fair to borrow the rat poison metaphor and apply it to the US. Americans have experienced an unprecedented level of success for the last fifty years. During that time, we have seen our economic power grow, our world leadership shine, and our quality of life reach the highest level in human history. Because of this, and likely other reasons, we have become accustomed to patting ourselves on the back. The more accurate phrase to describe this phenomenon is US exceptionalism. Never heard the expression. Here is an easy definition. US exceptionalism is the belief that the United States is unique among nations, inherently different and superior, particularly in its commitment to democracy, liberty, and self-government. This theory, with roots in Puritan ideology and Manifest Destiny, portrays the US as a “shining city on a hill,” a beacon for other countries.

Don’t get me wrong; I believe the US is special, and we should be proud of it. But exceptionalism can lead to inflated egocentric views, a disregard for the rest of the world, and, most importantly, a failure to accept that we have problems and aren’t perfect.

Before you wrap yourself up in the flag and say if I don’t like it, I should leave, take a deep breath. First off, that is such a lazy response. Setting that aside, it’s absurd to suggest that someone who points out we have challenges shouldn’t be taken seriously. It would be like a coach losing games and his team underperforming and at the press conference the coach saying if you don’t like it, go be a fan of another school.

Honestly, listening to the administration and their loyal followers is a bit like having someone piss on your head and tell you it’s raining. The Democrats can be just as clueless, but right now they are being outdone by the right-wing apologists, who hold their noses no matter what happens.

Guess what? The US has problems. And most of them are self-created. Our place in the world is faltering, and that is bad. Bad for us and bad for the world. When the US is leading the world, things work better. When we go into a shell, things get out of whack.

I can’t and won’t attempt to describe all the things we can or should worry about. That isn’t what this column is about. What I write about is how we as individuals might want to consider the world. Maybe engender more critical thinking and hope you’re not too offended when I point out things that make you uncomfortable.

I can tell you from experience, the higher your level of success, the more uncomfortable you will be. When championship teams or organizations win, they experience stress. If they want to continue to win.

The question is, do we want to continue to win? Are we willing to question our leaders and ourselves and focus on what we can do better? Can we remember what got us here? It was a hunger to be the best, not a desire to tell everyone we were the best. When you are good, you don’t have to tell everyone constantly; others already know.

Have you ever noticed how people can come out of nowhere, elevate to a level of success and prominence and then just as suddenly fall back into obscurity? It is because they didn’t know how to work to maintain the commitment that got them to success.

Saban was the coach of my least favorite rival. But he was good, and he was good the entire time. That was because he didn’t serve rat poison, and he didn’t tolerate anyone else offering it up.

The US remains the greatest country in the world, but there is no guarantee that it will continue. Much of the rest of the world wants to unseat us. To date, they haven’t been able to. Principally, that is because we worked to grow our dominance and never showed signs of faltering. That is until now.

For every example of the US striving to stay ahead, I can show you another example where we are failing. Worse than that, no one seems able or willing to point out it is piss and not rain, that is falling.

I don’t have very many MAGA friends. I have a lot of friends who are Trump supporters, and in almost every case, they are well-heeled, prosperous, successful people. They know inherently how hard it is to achieve greatness, but they seem to have forgotten. I can’t get any of them to question any of the actions of this president. Does that sound healthy? Surely, they don’t believe he is perfect. Just because he says he is, doesn’t mean that is gospel.

I remain a committed centrist. I am moderate because I can’t imagine viewing the world the way the extremes see things. Their view isn’t my concern. What I worry about is the rat poison that is ingested daily by the populace. America is great, but if we don’t get tougher on our leaders, we won’t be for long.

Think I should leave the county? Think again. I believe the US will thrive, and I am staying put. All we need is for people to decide to push our leaders and ourselves. To demand better. And to remember there isn’t an ordained right to greatness.

Today’s column isn’t a negative piece. It is a nudge to remind us that iron sharpens iron and rat poison will take you down.