Excerpt
July 2024, Opinion: "I recently returned from a two-week journey to South Africa, where a Government of National Unity took office 30 years after Nelson Mandela became that country’s first democratically elected president. Here in America, none of us needs to be reminded that our democracy, now in its 248th year, is struggling mightily – some might say on life support. What might we possibly learn from one another? It’s all about governance. Both countries – South Africa and the United States – are blessed with incredible natural and physical assets and resources, including an abundance of land and people, plus a deeply troubled and still-unresolved history with apartheid and slavery. Both countries have the capacity to be economically prosperous and socially just. But both are failing to deliver on their promise, largely due to ineffective, corrupt or dysfunctional government and poor governance. "