RUST COMMENTARY: CERTAIN ATTRIBUTES LIKE GOOD PEOPLE AND HONESTY ARE UNIVERSAL

I've been busy lately visiting some other communities for business reasons. In learning about them, I've found many ideas that are applicable to our newspapers and communities here in Southeast Missouri.

But the major thing that is obvious is that it is PEOPLE who make communities, organizations and businesses successful.

And for the long haul, it is generally HONESTY, integrity and the ability to openly deal with events ... learning and growing while winning and losing.

INTELLIGENCE doesn't hurt ... but I've seen many highly intelligent people fail because they lacked the work ethic or the understanding that what is good for all concerned is what is BEST!

* * * * *

It is impossible to govern rightly without God and the Bible. -- GEORGE WASHINGTON

* * * * *

Spotlight on KENNETT and the Little River Drainage District.

A rich heritage and a promising future ... Kennett, population 10,941 (1990 census), is the county seat of Dunklin County. The location was originally the site of a Delaware Indian village named for Chief Chilletecaux.

The city was incorporated in 1873 and named in the early 1850s for Luther M. Kennett, who was mayor of St. Louis at the time.

In the heart of one of the richest cotton producing areas of the Mid-South, Kennett's economy soon reflected the success of the cotton industry as many agriculture-related businesses and financial institutions evolved.

Full development of Kennett and other parts of Dunklin County came with formation of the Little River Drainage District. The district's project was to dig five major ditches, draining land to be used for farming.

The massive drainage ditches transformed the Bootheel of Missouri into the largest land reclamation in U.S. history.

The project was entirely underwritten by local landowners. The digging began in the mid 1920s, and the ditches were completed in the early 1930s. More soil was moved in the digging of the five ditches than was moved in construction of the Panama Canal.

* * * * *

August: the bridging month between the end of most scheduled summer activities and the start of school. The time when many families take their vacations and few events are scheduled.

However, we were visited this week by the Southern Illinois University's chancellor, Dr. Don Beggs. And the new University of Missouri system president, Dr. Manuel T. Pacheco, plans to visit soon.

Dr. Beggs' visit provided the opportunity to become better acquainted with us in the media (with circulation SIU's recruitment areas) and to share his views about the university.

All is competitive today, and marketing and communication are traits all university presidents realize they must have to be successful in leading their institutions -- traits with which Southeast Missouri University president DALE NITZSCHKE is well armed.

* * * * *

Former U.S. Sen. TOM EAGLETON, in his Sunday column, bemoaned the fact that too few seemed to care about the worst campaign fund-raising scandals in the history of their country.

From the time when I served in the Missouri House (over 20 years ago) to now ... campaign reform has been made into part of campaign rhetoric with most implementations actually making matters worse.

The BEST suggestion is to trust the people! U.S. Rep. JOHN DOOLITTLE (R-Calif.) has proposed a campaign-finance reform package that is so effective and so simple, Washington will instinctively turn away from it in sheer horror. Doolittle would repeal the limits on what you can give to candidates or to political parties as long as there is full and prompt public disclosure.

The severe limits on giving that are now in place have bred only hypocrisy and cynicism. The rules favor incumbents. Challengers outside the political system don't have the vast networks necessary to put together the resources to run against an incumbent, unless the challenger himself is rich. The rules also push politicos to engage in subterfuges we are now becoming familiar with "soft money" and bogus "independent" committees.

Under Doolittle's proposal, campaigns and candidates would have to file reports electronically to the Federal Election Commission every 24 hours during the three months preceding an election. These reports would go immediately on the Internet. Contributions could not be accepted unless they were accompanied by full disclosure about the donor -- "best effort" would no longer be permitted. Under current law, campaigns can cash checks even if legally required information about donors is missing.

Rather than applying another layer of federal rules and regulations, Doolittle says, "Unlike the other campaign finance proposals you hear so much about, my bill asks Congress to do something it rarely considers: Give American voters the information they need, and then trust their judgment." As long as everyone could immediately see who was giving what to whom, voters themselves would be able to decide if a candidate had sold his soul to an individual or a special interest.

* * * * *

Deafening decibels damage democracy: Last fall, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas gave a speech that law school graduates and the rest of us should take to heart. He eloquently deplored the decline of civility in our public discourse and conduct.

The vociferous, in-your-face behavior we see in sports, politics, academia, the law and other areas will ultimately erode the ability of our civil society to function. Thomas rightly points out something Alexis de Tocqueville noted 160 years ago: The extraordinary energy in America that comes from our citizens' establishing and joining private associations and organizations -- schools, synagogues, hospitals, professional associations, cultural organizations, sporting activities, etc. This "private sphere of human interaction that is separate from and independent of government control (has been) one of the important factors that has contributed to the stability and success of our nation." Thomas makes the point that "What political scientists like to call 'mediating institutions' stand between the individual and the power of the state. Civil society and its institutions prevent tyranny." Without civility and civil society "democracy becomes more and more difficult."

The justice gives his thoughts on what brought about the decline in civility among lawyers. The law became less of a mechanism for mediating private disputes and more of a tool used by special interests for reshaping society. Increasingly, the courts began to act like legislators, handing down imperial-like decrees in a growing number of areas such as prayer, abortion and term limits. Judges took to administering schools and jails in minute detail. This winner-take-all, reshaping-society-by-decree approach to law undermines civility and civil society.

Thomas, of course, is no stranger to this trend. Unable to derail his 1991 Supreme Court nomination through intellectual arguments, the opposition tried to do to him what was done to Robert Bork a few years before-portray the man as a monster unfit for any role. If you can't win on the merits, wreck a man's reputation.

Thomas has delivered a timely -- and civil -- warning.

Incidentally, the justice mentions George Washington's favorite book on proper behavior, "Rules of Civility," which, edited by Richard Brookhiser, has been reissued and is available from The Free Press for $16. -- Steve Forbes, Editor, Forbes Magazine

* * * * *

Congresswoman JO ANN EMERSON has become quite comfortable in a no-notes open discussion of the issues and accomplishments of Congress to date ... as she displayed at last week's Republican barbecue attended by over 400 people.

* * * * *

Here's what Benjamin Franklin wrote in a letter dated March 1778 to the Ministry of France:

Whoever shall introduce into public affairs the principles of primitive Christianity will change the face of the world.

In addition, Franklin wrote:

A Bible and a newspaper in every house, a good school in every district -- all studied and appreciated as they merit -- are the principal support of virtue, morality, and civil liberty.

* * * * *

In matters of style, swim with the current. In matters of principle, stand like a rock. -- Thomas Jefferson

~Gary Rust is the president of Rust Communications which owns the Southeast Missourian and other newspapers.