No way to tell, because Bono’s office did not respond to Newsweek’s questions about the new congressman’s progress on The Federalist papers and the seven other essential documents that speakerdesignate Newt Gingrich commanded his followers to study (box). A random sample of Republican freshmen last week suggested that on average they had read slightly less than one book each – usually “The Federalist,” and often not since college. “We got conflicting advice because [Majority Leader] Dick Armey told us to go home and spend time with our kids, but then the speaker gave us all this homework,” complained Roger Wicker, a freshman from Mississippi. J. C. Watts of Oklahoma said that although he’s been toting “The Federalist” around in his briefcase he hadn’t actually gotten to it, although he did bone up for his new job by watching a tape of “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.” Richard Burr, who’s been busy visiting all 14 chambers of commerce in North Carolina’s Fifth District, said he definitely intends to read the books, but unfortunately he left the list behind in Washington. Florida’s Joe Scarborough, who says he actually quoted James Madison in his campaign, “breezed back through The Federalist papers on the plane home” from the Dec. 5 caucus. But even this 31-year-old overachiever admits that “if there’s an exam, I’m not going to do too well.”
The real test, of course, will be to put these great principles into effect in running the country. A generation ago, everyone in Washington read John F. Kennedy’s “Profiles in Courage,” to be inspired by the likes of Daniel Webster. The equivalent heroes in Gingrich’s pantheon are people like Thomas Plaskett, the former chairman of Pan Am, who was the subject of a whole chapter in “Leadership and the Computer.” Months later, of course, Pan Am went out of business, but the principle – tell the kids they can play Carmen Sandiego all they want when I’m in Washington, but Newt’s office called and said to check my e-mail – still applies.
Oh, they’ll be unstoppable, these freshmen, when they get their reading done. They’ll be “integrative” thinkers in the “super-symbolic economy” that futurists Alvin and Heidi Toffler say is already here, although many of us are too dull to notice. Also “high risk” people who thrive on conflict, in the fashionable analysis of Morris R. Shechtman. “Politicians are so afraid of offending an interest group, even one making outrageous demands, that they avoid conflict by not dealing directly with the issues,” Shechtman writes. Obviously most of Gingrich’s colleagues haven’t reached that page yet, but once they do, you can bet they’ll be looking for interest groups to offend! And they will manage their schedules according to Peter F. Drucker, eschewing “the countless speeches, dinners, committee memberships . . . which take an unconscionable toll of the time of busy people.” What politician couldn’t benefit from giving fewer speeches? Maybe, knowing how the Vietnam War turned out, the new Congress will take with a grain of salt Drucker’s praise for Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara, written in 1966. But the significance of Gingrich’s choices may lie less in the specific advice they contain than the fact that of the eight sacred documents he blessed, out of all English literature, no fewer than three were written by management consultants.
So watch out, Washington, here come Newt’s troops, all fired up with constitutional fervor and armed with state-of-the-art management theory. Or they will be, as soon as they finish their reading, which, as Burr says, “is certainly something I plan to do after the first of the year.”
Honey, did you see that list from Newt? I had it taped right to the computer . . .
The Declaration of Independence, 1776
The Federalist, 1788
Democracy in America, Alexis de Tocqueville, 1835-40
The Effective Executive, Peter F. Drucker (Harper & Row, 1966; reissued by Harper Business, 1993, $12)
Washington: The Indispensable Man, James T. Flexner (Little, Brown, 1974; reissued 1994, $14.95)
Leadership and the Computer, Mary E. Boone (Prima Publishing, 1991; reissued 1994, $14.95)
Creating a New Civilization: The Politics of the Third Wave, Alvin and Heidi Toffler (with a foreword by Gingrich) (The Pregress & Freedom Foundation, 1994, $9.95)
Working Without a Net: How to Survive & Thrive in Today’s High Risk Business World, Morris R. Shechtman (Prentice Hall, 1994, $22)
