Dr. Cheek Contributes to Major Study of Political Leadership

In times of crisis, countries naturally yearn for leaders who can defend the public good within the sphere of politics and governance, and in less turbulent periods, the sound political management of a country is also valued.  The term typically used to describe these abilities among national leaders is statesmanship.  In November the University of Notre Dame Press will publish a long-awaited volume on political leadership entitled American Statesmanship, edited by Joseph R. Fornieri, Professor of Political Science at Rochester Institute of Technology.  The volume will include a chapter on John C. Calhoun by East Georgia State College professor, Dr. Lee Cheek.  He is Professor of Political Science and the former Dean of the School of Humanities and Social Sciences at the College. Dr. Cheek also directs the College's Correll Scholars Program.  

According to Fornieri, “Our project was greatly enhanced by Dr. Cheek’s contribution.  As a leading scholar of American political thought, especially the political thought of the American South, his work balances our understanding of statesmanship and political leadership.”

The book, including Cheek’s scholarship, suggests the principles of statesmanship should view leaders’ commitment to the common good versus private interest; a sacrificial view of public service; and, the ability to distinguish between the proper use of persuasion and coercion.

Cheek’s previous books include Political Philosophy and Cultural Renewal (Transaction/Rutgers, 2001; reprinted, Routledge, 2018 [with Kathy B. Cheek]); Calhoun and Popular Rule, published by the University of Missouri Press (2001; paper edition, 2004); Calhoun: Selected Speeches and Writings (Regnery, 2003); Order and Legitimacy (Transaction/Rutgers, 2004; reprinted, Routledge, 2017); an edition of Calhoun's A Disquisition on Government (St. Augustine's, 2007; reprinted, 2016); a critical edition of W. H. Mallock's The Limits of Pure Democracy (Transaction/Rutgers, 2007; reprinted, Routledge, 2017); Confronting Modernity: Towards a Theology of Ministry in the Wesleyan Tradition (Wesley Studies Society, 2010); an edition of the classic study, A Theory of Public Opinion (Transaction/Rutgers, 2013; reprinted, Routledge, 2017); Patrick-Henry Onslow Debate: Liberty and Republicanism in American Political Thought (Lexington, 2013); and, The Founding of the American Republic (Notre Dame University Press, 2023 [forthcoming]).

Warnock: The Pastor as Senator

 

With the certification of the results of the U. S. Senate election run-off, Georgia has elected Raphael Warnock to the world’s most elite club, American’s upper legislative chamber, the Senate.  Senator-elect Warnock will join Senator James Lankford as the only two ordained clergy in the Senate.  Warnock and Lankford are out-numbered by the majority of Senators who were lawyers and business people before being elected to the Senate, but in many important ways, having the calling, training, and mission of a pastor prepares Warnock more thoroughly for the work ahead.

Warnock’s ability to adjust to his new work environment is key to his potential re-election in 2022.  Unlike most senators who have six years to learn the arcane rules of Senate and begin to influence legislation, Warnock has no time to waste.  By the time he learns his way around the Senate, he will be on the campaign trail again.

Warnock’s background as a pastor provides him with gifts and graces that the average newly-elected senator does not possess.  In theological terms, Warnock has already accepted the “yoke of obedience” to follow the divine calling, or mission, in his life.  The attachment to mission that has guided his life as pastor now expands to a mission to support the citizenry of Georgia in a federal system with many claims on power and resources. 

Our new pastor-senator possesses the intellectual and pastoral gifts to assume these duties.  Contrary to the wildly exaggerated ads against Reverend Warnock during the election process—and while a man of the Left--he is certainly within the mainstream of American Christianity and politics.  He earned a Ph.D. at Union Theological Seminary, studying under the late James Cone, who was the leading black liberationist theologian in America.  Warnock extended Cone’s work to include feminist theology, especially Warnock’s major academic work, The Divided Mind of the Black Church, published by New York University Press in 2013. 

His intellectual gifts will need to be tempered by his pastoral gifts over time, allowing Warnock to witness to and work with the diverse constituencies that make up the Georgia electorate.  In other words, as the pastor of one of America’s most famous churches, who already possesses the talent to relate to a congregation of differing views, Warnock as pastor-senator must now support and advance the needs of all Georgians as well.  No one is better prepared politically or socially to accomplish such a complex task as is Pastor-Senator Warnock.

Can Senator Warnock accomplish his mission?  Yes, if he attends to the needs of Georgians, just as a pastor concentrates on his or her congregation.  In the language of the Congress, the pastor-senator must concentrate on constituency services, responding to basic needs of the individuals, communities and businesses he represents.  Instead of attempting to become a cause célèbre for ideological groups, Warnock should rely on his natural spiritual and political gifts to promote the most critical and faith-based needs as a servant leader.  He should avoid notoriety and concentrate on the hard work needed to promote public policy initiatives he supports, most often within the committee structure of the U.S. Senate, where most of the actual legislative work takes place.  Finally, Warnock must seek resolution of issues close to his calling as a pastor, including alleviating poverty, support for education, and the like, by asking Senate Majority Leader Schumer (D-NY) for major committee assignments related to his and Georgia’s legislative priorities.  If Pastor-Senator Warnock continues to follow his calling, his career in the U.S. Senate may be a long one indeed.

H. Lee Cheek, Jr., is a United Methodist minister, and Professor of Political Science at East Georgia State College, and a former congressional aide.  Dr. Cheek lives on Tybee Island.

Populism, Properly Understood

 

Few terms in contemporary politics are as bewildering to the average citizen and the scholar as populism.  Now comes Professor Benjamin Moffitt to the rescue.  His recent tome,  _Populism_ (Polity, 2020) is a helpful resource. In this engaging and lucid study, Moffitt (Australian Catholic Univ.) offers a helpful guide to the "veritable explosion" in the use and abuse of the concept of populism in the existing literature, reviewing particular cases in six clearly defined chapters. While incorporating the insights of earlier studies, Moffitt presents novel insights from emerging fields of scholarly inquiry as well. Viewing the term "populism" as representing a construct closely aligned with political theory (alongside its use in political practice), Moffitt introduces the major debates in chapter one. His second chapter surveys how particular scholars have approached the topic, typically concentrating on the separation of the "people" from the "elite." Chapters 3 and 4 explore the differences between populism, nationalism, and nativism, and points to the relationship between populism and socialism. Chapter 5 correctly demonstrates how populists on both the Right and the Left share an attachment to "illiberalism" when "institutions and procedures" are considered. Moffitt's final chapter questions whether populism is a "good or a bad thing for democracy," without offering any final judgment. The book makes a solid contribution to understanding populism, while also tending to affirm the concept’s conflation with common notions of popular rule.