Monthly Archives: February 2013

For nearly eight years, Jim Ferrell has been a part of Sutherland Institute’s Transcend Series of lectures and classes. We created the Transcend Series initially for state legislators to help them cut through politics and focus on sound, principled-based policy. Our first class in 2004 was dubbed the “Sutherland 20,” a group of 20 legislators who have since served in legislative leadership including two Speakers of the House.

Jim Ferrell’s role is to help participants to see colleagues, constituents and political opponents as people and not simply as objects. That sounds simple enough but in the heat of political battle you would be amazed at how easy it is to slip into seeing others as objects to push, pull, climb over, ridicule, condemn and otherwise marginalize. read more

The Boy Scouts of America are scheduled this week to decide whether or not to lift its long-standing ban on accepting homosexual scout leaders in local troops. The push to lift the ban comes from two members of its national board who both support homosexual scout leaders but worry more about how progressive-minded corporations extort BSA over its no-gay policy. These corporations threaten to quit donating to BSA until the ban is lifted.

There are no serious political threats to BSA driving this renewed debate. Nobody beyond homosexual activists and those two BSA board members are pushing the issue. There’s no legal threat against BSA – in 2000, the United States Supreme Court settled the issue: BSA does not have to accept homosexuals scout leaders if it doesn’t want to. read more