Danny Heitman: Advice for Congress This First Day of Spring: To Improve Leadership, Go Outside

Danny Heitman, a columnist for The Baton Rouge Advocate, is the author of “A Summer of Birds: John James Audubon at Oakley House.”

On this first day of spring, as another cherry blossom season arrives in Washington, I find myself thinking of Henry David Thoreau, who once wryly observed that “much more is adoing” in the world than Congress knows about.

Thoreau’s comment, first published in 1842, is a useful reminder that low opinions of Congress are really nothing new. But Thoreau’s dim view of lawmakers had nothing to do with tax law, foreign policy, or the federal budget. His real concern was that Congress wasn’t connected enough with nature.

That’s just the kind of comment one might expect from a dewy-eyed Transcendentalist like Thoreau, and as Washington marks the centennial year of its cherry blossom season this month, even the less sentimental power brokers on Capitol Hill might be cheered by the notion of spending more time out of doors.

But Thoreau’s suggestion that lawmaking might be improved by a greater awareness of the natural world was a serious one. He believed that in the vastness of creation, politicians might be able to grasp how narrow their politics seemed by comparison. Seen merely as a series of political subdivisions, America looked puny and depressing to Thoreau. But viewed as a part of the much larger web of connections evident in nature, the country of Thoreau’s vision seemed rich with real promise....