Lecture from Dr. Catherine Pakaluk

Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt, Vice Chair of the National Governor’s Association, emphasized the importance of civil discourse in political discussion in his remarks at the Disagree Better Summit. This summit, born from Oklahoma’s Better Conversations initiative and Utah Governor Spencer Cox’s Disagree Better initiative, gathered leaders from across the nation to discuss avoiding hateful rhetoric when it comes to hot-button issues. At the summit, Wheatley Institute non-resident fellow Thomas Griffith moderated the event and applied the Will Rogers quote– “never miss a chance to shut up”– to modern political conversations. Watch Governor Stitt discuss the art of respectful disagreement with Tim Shriver, Chairman of the Special Olympics:

Wheatley Institute Fellow Judge Thomas B. Griffith has taken on a major role in the American Bar Association’s Task Force for American Democracy, a project created last year to strengthen the commitment of lawyers to the Constitution and the democratic republic it creates. Judge Griffith was appointed to the Task Force at its creation, and his emphasis since has been on the need for lawyers to protect and defend the Constitution by pushing back against the contempt that too often characterizes current American political disagreement. He is working with the deans of law schools to strengthen their commitment to teaching future lawyers that the most important way for them to carry out their primary duty to support and defend the Constitution is by modeling reasoned and respectful disagreement.

Too often we use the yardsticks of wealth, power and prestige to measure success. But those three measures all rely heavily on the unruly variable of luck. If we define the American dream as success reliant on luck, we have taken agency out of the pursuit such a dream.

“People that worship regularly are having more gratitude, they’re having more joy, they’re having more opportunities to serve and look outside themselves...the more you care for others, the more happy you end up being.”

We are designed for love. We’re designed to experience love eternally. This is joy. And that is grounded in family relationships, mothers, fathers, children bound together eternally. I think it’s so beautiful.