A significant portion of the news media has recently taken to caricaturing the Republican Party as “The Party of No,” referring to its stubborn resistance to some of the seminal public policy changes being promoted by the Democratic Party. And before we go any further, let me underscore that this blog entry is neither a defense of the Republican Party nor a criticism of the Democratic Party. I want to make a point about genuine leadership and how it may be pilloried by agents of influence (in this case, the media).

Recent surveys have shown that a majority of voters are comfortable with the Republicans for playing the role of naysayer in the face of an aggressive push by Democrats toward expanded government and government spending. The media, whose liberal tendencies have been well-documented, has positioned Republicans as negative and unproductive because of their efforts to block the Democratic wish list from becoming law.

At the very heart of leadership is the determination to remain true to your vision. A crucial dimension of staying true is being able to say “no” to things that are do-able and sometimes even popular. The Republican vision may not be easy to discern these days, but it is certainly vastly different than the dreams of the Democrats now in power. Regardless of which approach you prefer, we have to appreciate the consistency of the Republicans for resisting government expansion as much as we appreciate the vision behind the Democratic dream of expansion. The challenge to us as individuals is to clarify in our own minds which vision reflects our own view of what is best for society. Neither party is bad for pursuing its vision. It is our constitutional responsibility to study those divergent strategies, embrace one of them, and get involved in the governing process.

At the same time, we have to be wise consumers of information and reject the temptation to accept media characterizations, often supported by public statements from one party or another, that Republicans are somehow inferior lawmakers because their primary response over the past few months has been the “no” vote. First, a more careful reading of the Congressional Record (which can be boring and long-winded but also revealing and insightful) indicates that Republicans have offered more than just “no” votes. Second, with media bias so entrenched – on both ends of the ideological continuum – that most Americans are no longer even aware of its existence, we have to become re-sensitized to the dramatic effect media filtering and embedded ideology can have on our perspectives. Third, we might be well-served by demanding a more objective reporting of events and perspectives in exchange for giving the media our attention and trust.

The democratization of information in America comes with a cost: i.e., that you and I must do a better and more diligent job of seeking the truth of events than what might be delivered to us by subjective media sources. Further, we have to take seriously our responsibility as the protectors and developers of our nation’s destiny by understanding the value and the power of “no” as much as the value and power of promoting new ideas and laws. Both of those approaches can serve us well and both reflect a different vision of leadership.