Last week, while on a diplomatic trip through Europe, U.S. Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, gave a speech at Pnyx Hill in Athens, Greece, where ancient Athenians held democratic assemblies. This was a fitting location for Rubio’s speech, which the Editorial Board of the Wall Street Journal called its “speech of the year.”
I thought he hit the target and also missed a few opportunities.
It directly ties the lineage of modern America back to ancient Greece. While some commentators saw this speech as a rationalization for “America First” or MAGA (“Make America Great Again”) domestic and foreign policy, I saw it as something quite different. Mr. Rubio’s speech looks back at the attributes of ancient Greece that can help the West (the U.S. and its European allies) move forward, and it had at least one major departure from de facto U.S. foreign policy. In today’s column, I would like to highlight those attributes and indicate how they apply not only to our country as a whole, but to our businesses as well. In addition, I will also address two areas that I feel Mr. Rubio missed in his speech, probably for political reasons, that will also help us move forward as a country and as businesses.
The main point that Rubio made was that the heart of great civilization is what the ancient Greeks called “thumos”: the fire of passion, strength, courage, and pride. In Athens, this led to what Rubio identifies as the “essential traits that would come to define the West: fierce individuality and relentless ambition; daring exploration and invention; a yearning for discovery, for adventure, risk and glory…An impatience with the notion of impossibility, chafing at all boundaries and limits…” Rubio indicates that the men who made the Parthenon “held that the highest and most noble aspiration in life was to surpass all others, to strive to be the best in all things.” Many of these traits have led to American/Western greatness in the fields of science, medicine, and particularly business.
However, as Rubio notes, “The ideal of many ideologies in our time has, frankly, become a world of perfect safety, devoid of risk or failure, with neither the glory of victory nor the shame of defeat…We design our standards to ensure no one will lose; we preoccupy ourselves more with the comfort of the worst than the potential of the best. We hold the most exceptional things among us hostage to the average, the ordinary, the mediocre.” I know that sounds rough, but there is a lot of truth in it. For instance, I think this is exemplified in grade inflation, which I have discussed multiple times in this column. Whether it is in business, the classroom, or in our country, there is nothing wrong with making us better through competition, risk, and failure.
As Mr. Rubio points out, over time the U.S. and West “have come to feel ashamed of these things that made us exceptional and feel embarrassed that our achievements set us apart from the rest of the world. Our prosperity somehow became a source of guilt. We no longer believed we deserved and had earned our greatness.” I think this is sometimes true for individuals and businesses as well. I am not saying we should be driven by greed and vanity, but rather be willing to continue to strive rather than waiting for others to catch up. By setting a higher bar, it will push others to strive as well. In other words, “A rising tide lifts all boats.”
There was one encouraging part of the speech that was a significant departure from the words and actions of the current administration. Rather than sniping at European countries like others in the administration, Mr. Rubio asked Europe to join America in this Western revival. While “America First” might be productive, “American Alone” is not. The U.S. and its European allies have much in common, and Mr. Rubio’s reaching out might very well result in a stronger and more successful Western world.
I found that there were two areas that Mr. Rubio could have addressed that would have more completely tied American success back to ancient Greece. One area is morals and ethics, which in ancient Greece focused on character development. In particular, Plato and Aristotle often discussed the roles of virtue and justice in the shaping of a great civilization. Overall, Western society has had strong ties to morality and ethics in its history, but this may have been intentionally avoided in this speech given that the current administration has often been critiqued in these areas. As business leaders, morals, ethics, and character development will ensure that our emphasis on success and greatness will be enhanced by a focus on virtue and justice.
Finally, as noted in an ensuing Editorial in the Wall Street Journal earlier this week by former Senator Phil Gramm and George Mason University economics professor Donald Bourdeaux, Athenian liberty, prosperity, and power were built on international trade. This has also been a driving force of American prosperity. I believe Mr. Rubio avoided this issue in his speech, as the current administration has used tariffs not only to build on American success, but also to stifle international trade.
Marco Rubio’s speech not only tied America back to ancient Greece but also made a strong case for truly making America greater. This speech highlights his ability to be a potentially strong candidate for President in 2028 and/or beyond. So, on that note, next week, I will provide you with a guide for the midterm elections. Rather than recommend specific candidates, I will identify the individual traits and policies that should make a candidate attractive to business. Early voting began in Georgia this past Tuesday.
