Better late than never.
I previously wrote about the dilemma of whether to impose on celebrities who you encounter as they engage in the necessities of life (though I did not mention the time I was using a Kennedy Center urinal next to Colonel Sanders). I generally have ambivalence about the situation, but when I saw former Senator Alan Simpson standing at my gate as I disembarked at La Guardia, there was no question in my mind. I crossed over to him immediately, shook his hand, and said thank you.
I owe him, you see.
Everyone knows that as we go through life people say many things to us, and some of those words, often tossed away by a speaker without excessive thought, grow, flourish and inspire, changing our existence in positive ways by planting true wisdom. I’m not talking about the oddly memorable comments that fester in your brain for a lifetime, my sister’s infamous “That fish looks so good, I think I’ll wear my bra on my head” being the prime example in my life, but rather the generous gift of an idea that arose from the experience, reflection and perspective of someone you have reason to respect and listen to intently.
Almost 30 years ago, Sen. Simpson was a guest at a symposium I helped organize for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. The topic was immigration reform, and Senator Simpson was leading the effort, ultimately successful, to pass the first amnesty for illegal immigrants. I was seated next to the Senator at lunch, and I asked him how his position was playing with conservatives, who then as now, were not generally positive about rewarding law-breakers, whatever the justification.
Senator Simpson answered, “They don’t like it. But you know, if there’s one thing I’ve learned in government, it’s this: ideology is fine, but there comes a time when you just have to solve the problem.”
I never saw the Senator again before today, and when I reminded him of the comment, he didn’t recall making it, as there was no reason why he would. But that comment, coming from a Republican Senator in the middle of the Reagan years, made an enormous impression on me, and has guided my thinking about government, law, ethics and life ever since.
“You just have to solve the problem.” No system, principle or rule works all the time and in all circumstances, perhaps because that is the imperfect nature of them all, or perhaps because human beings aren’t wise enough to define systems that are flawless. In any event, allowing serious problems to persist because the only available solution violates one’s most fervent beliefs is itself unethical. Yes, treat rules and principles as absolute, recognizing that reality is not as pure as they are, and never will be. Be willing, as a last resort, to compromise theory for practice, fix the problem, and recognize that an occasional failure doesn’t mean the principle isn’t good, noble, useful and valid.
Alan Simpson taught me that, without even trying, and it may have been the single most valuable lesson I ever learned.
Today I had the opportunity to say thank you, to one of the people who made a positive difference in my life.
One more down, and only about 300 left.
Ethics Alarms 
Jack, thank you for the positive difference in my life you have made and continue to make.
I am surprised that more comments have not been made here earlier. Jack, your third-to-last paragraph provides especially succinct and clear food for thought. After reading the post several times, I could not stop thinking “What to infer then? How shall we then live?”-like thoughts – applied in one particular way. Simpson was a U.S. senator, thus it was automatic for me to think about “just solve the problem” matters of foreign policy, from the first time I read the post.
“[A]llowing serious problems to persist” particularly got me to thinking. The immigration problem that Simpson acted upon provoked immediate thoughts of other problems and solutions, including the ending of World War II and the ever debatable solution of using atomic bombs – and the (failed) solution to one “problem” that clearly occupied the minds of Hitler’s nazis. Like never before, today I feel under threat of suffering the unearned, undeserved collateral damage inherent to someone else’s imminent, arrogant, oversimplified “just solve the problem” action.
Writing helps me to avoid obsessing. After reading this post, I managed to avoid obsessing about what I believe is a serious persistent foreign policy problem. Having written what follows, I am now liberated to move on, think of other things, and maybe actually solve other problems:
“Just solve the problem: American military personnel and assets should…
[fill in the blank with actions] in regard to the persistent serious policy problem with…
[fill in country name; a number of countries come to mind; Afghanistan came to my mind first, because of the recent, apparently wanton killing of non-combatants done by one of the U.S. troops].”
Of course at many levels and to many persons today, there are other widely perceived, serious persistent problems – to name seven, just on the scales of internal U.S. jurisdictions:
1) an immigration problem (which many might say Simpson, et al, actually failed to solve)
2) a social acceptance and inclusiveness problem (actually, a bundle of problems, related to racial, ethnic/cultural, age, gender/sex/marriage, and religious discrimination…“bullying”)
3) an environmental impact/sustainability problem
4) a health care (and other humanitarian services) safety net effectiveness problem
5) a wealth disparity problem (or, “resources accessibility inequality” problem)
6) a debt problem
7) an election campaign finance problem
But I have already obsessed enough on those (and written enough on them) to realize that any further “just solve the problem” exercises like the military-Afghanistan one above, except for treating my personal obsessive tendencies, would be futile for practical purposes before I even hit “Ctrl-S.” So while I pray for continued freedom from obsession, I also pray for protection against and deliverance from persons with vastly more power at their disposal than I, who might act to “just solve” any one of the problems above by unethical, “nuclear option” means.