Over the past two weeks, I have met with some remarkable men. I had dinner with Vice President Al Gore, who was in New York to complete work on a new book about global climate change due out in November. We ate at Blue Hill in the Village where Chef Dan Barber prepared an amazing feast of earthly delights grown on his farm just north of the city.
I dined with my close friend, Peter Senge, and discussed the foreword he was writing for my new book, “The Responsibility Revolution”, which will be published in March. Peter was visiting Stowe to teach with Otto Scharmer at the Executive Champions’ Workshop, and we ate at the always extraordinary Kitchen Table in Richmond, Vermont.
As one would expect, both meetings were delightful, stimulating, and insightful.
My third meeting was one I almost didn’t attend, but it was the most interesting and unexpected. It just happened to be in the same building in downtown Burlington where Seventh Generation has its headquarters. When Jane Stetson, a fellow Vermonter who also happens to be the Director of Finance for the Democratic National Party, invites you to meet the new Chairman of the DNC, you know that it’s probably going to cost a lot more than dinner but at the last minute I wandered down the hall and encountered a politician I will never forget.
Tim Kaine, the current Governor of Virginia, is serving the one and only term that is allowed under Virginia state law. He was elected the first Democratic governor in about 40 years in a race no one thought he had a chance in hell of winning.
Before entering into politics, Kaine worked with the Jesuits as a Roman Catholic missionary in Honduras and was a lawyer in Richmond, Virginia. When Kaine practiced law he specialized in representing people who had been denied housing opportunities because of their race or disability. He won the largest civil rights settlement in history, over $100 million, for his clients. Kaine also taught legal ethics for six years at the University of Richmond Law School.
He stood before our small gathering and intimately and clearly explained the current state of the health care debate, and the administration’s strategy on the Waxman/Markey legislation. He also talked about the moral imperative we have as individuals to care for those less able to care for themselves. This obligation has nothing to do with a cost benefit analysis; it is driven by ethics that transcend any economic equation.
I experienced an authentic and transparent man who was as compelling an orator as our current president. I met a politician who was unafraid to say he didn’t know the answer, unafraid to speak the truth, and not worried about whether or not in doing so people would like or agree with him.
Tim Kaine is truly a remarkable man. I will write a check, but not because anyone asked. I will write a check simply because of the vision he shared. A vision that we still can become the great country we aspire to be. With Kaine influencing its direction, our chances for success just got better.