The Scouts’ National Jamboree takes place every four years and it's not out of like for a President make a brief address. Nobody said it had to be classy I guess… Trump turned what should have been a patriotic, uncontroversial speech into a self-aggrandizing political rally with the attendees essentially pledging their allegiance to him.
While the political leaning was totally out of place at an event like this, Trump took it a step beyond that, telling the Scouts present how awesome it was to own a yacht and how a friend of his totally got laid all the time.
“[My friend] sold his company for a tremendous amount of money, and he went out a bought a big yacht. And he had a very… interesting life. I won’t go into any more than that ‘cause you’re Boy Scouts. So I’m not going to tell you what he did.”
When I was a kid, it was a group that was synonymous with leadership, self-reliance, and generosity. Then, at least for me, there was a time when the anti-gay, anti-atheist bigotry overrode all of that. And now this… what they allowed Trump to do violated their own policies on scout participation in political events.
"Uniformed unit members and leaders may participate in flag ceremonies at political events and may lead the Pledge of Allegiance; however, they should retire after the ceremony and not remain on the speakers’ platform or in a conspicuous location where attendees or viewers could construe their presence as an endorsement or symbol of support. In addition, photos of candidates or Scouts in uniform or with BSA marks and logos are not allowed in political campaign materials of any kind.
Volunteers and professionals must be alert to situations that would imply BSA favoritism for one candidate over another. Strict observance of our longstanding policy against the active participation of uniformed Scouts and leaders in political events is mandatory." – http://troopleader.org/policy-on-scout-participation-in-political-events/
I loved scouting when I was a kid; I'm so glad I didn't let my son join.
This is very hard to swallow.
I went through BSA just a handful of years before their political spotlight went crazy and I genuinely enjoyed my experience. The individual camps/bases are likely still isolated from the corporate crapstorm and still great experiences.
I still speak with pride that most summers included campouts every other weekend, the Philmont, Double H, and Sea Base adventures we went on, and all the leading positions with Junior Leader Training Camp (now Youth instead of Junior), which forced me to learn through teaching, more about leadership than any professional course I've been through or that my workforce experience has presented so far.
I still want to believe in the local levels being closer to the true purpose than not. As long as the local troop leaders, camp organizers, etc are still passionate about the life experiences that the boys are getting, I'll still support that.
Afterall, I still live in a country that doesn't represent the majority of the people in it, including myself, but still strive to make my local area better. No president or corporate CEOs will stop that.
I signed my son up for Cub Scouts 2 years ago. I jumped from parent, to Pack Secretary, to Den Leader, to Cubmaster in less than a year. I don't know about elsewhere, but in one of the reddest states, politics don't play a role in what I've witnessed at the Pack and District levels. We're chartered through the American Legion, so the scouts in our Pack come from a large mix of faiths. Those portions of requirements are done at the family level. We let families know if a local place of worship is leading religious emblem classes, but other than that, the only time religion is mentioned is in the pledge and oath.
I can see it from both sides. This President is a disgrace as a representative of the office, of our country, as a human being… But at the same time, BSA is trying to keep its head down. What sort of shit storm would it have created if they would have disallowed the President from attending?
BSA has stepped back in recent years from the anti-this and that rhetoric. In the last year they started to allow transgender boys to join Cub Scouts. But a change on those stances are having an impact. The Mormons, the single largest charter organization in Boy Scouts (across the world), is pulling out. Other Christian denominations across the US are also dropping Troops and Packs. Cub Scouts can survive by getting chartered through elementary school PTAs, but Boy Scout Troops (that span middle and high school) are going to have a tougher time. From what I've read recently, expect BSA to become Scouts of America. Today, girls are allowed to participate in the Venture program starting at age 14. In the UK, girls have been allowed to join and earn the same awards as boys in all programs in coed Troops and Packs since '91. In the next 10yrs BSA will likely go the same route and remove gender restrictions at all levels in an attempt to be more inclusive and hope they can bring membership back up.
+Brad Tissi & +Brian Barth I too have fond memories of scouts.
They can't be blamed for the content of his speech or for inviting him. More on that in a second though….
You know who modernized: The Girl Scouts. The BSA cling to tradition even when those traditions need to be discarded. They STILL won’t allow atheist members or leaders because not pledging belief in a Higher Power would violate the Scout Oath and Scout Law.
They took forever to allow openly gay/trans Scout members and leaders and even THAT comes with a massive caveat: "Chartered organizations will continue to select their adult leaders. Religious chartered organizations, solely, may continue to use religious beliefs as criteria for selecting adult leaders, including matters of sexuality." (http://www.scouting.org/…/Leadership_Standards...)
Over 70% of Boy Scouts Scouting units are run by religious organizations. Now to be fair… they are a private organization so they can do as they please. I just didn't allow my kid to participate because of their positions.
Regarding Trump… there's a lot to unpack around all of this – most of it is Trump being Trump and not on the BSA itself. However, in response they've stated it is a tradition to invite the sitting president and that they don't take "policy positions." It's entirely true that it's a tradition to invite the sitting President. It's their statements (or lack thereof) about his behavior that are at issue.
Trump openly bullied, name-called, and cursed in front of a bunch of kids. It wouldn't be a statement against policy positions to say that doesn't align with what they teach Scouts.
NOT addressing that shows how feckless they are as an organization…. and it doesn't matter if it's Trump or anyone else. It just happened to be Trump and at their Jamboree.
Isn't part of being a Scout being Friendly, Courteous, and Kind?
Yes, the GSA has modernized. Unfortunately, they've completely revamped their programming along the way. There are a lot of girls that jumped ship because GSA removed the outdoorsy stuff from the program. A lot of GSA is so flexible in programming that two Troops of the same aged girls will do completely different things. And this is at the elementary aged level. It is entirely up to the Troop leader how things will be run and the activities they will work on.
As for BSA, their comment after the speech was pathetic. It really pisses me off. I've done a bit more digging this morning and found some interesting things… The current National President of BSA is AT&T CEO, which is waiting on word from the Trump administration on if a merger with Time Warner will be allowed… Gotta follow the money… Trump is the kind of vindictive individual that if BSA were to chastise his remarks, he'd tell the Justice Dept to deny the request just to spite the CEO. Sad really that this is what things have come to.
I don't think the Boy Scouts did anything wrong. Why shouldn't they invite a President to inspire the boys? It's Trump's ego that put himself above the Boy Scouts and what they stand for. What an idiot.
Whether you like Pres. Trump or not, the rules you quoted aren't really applicable, and the BSA didn't really do anything wrong here. This was not supposed to be a political event, and Mr. Trump is not a candidate,…he's the President of the United States and the honorary president of the BSA.
https://plus.google.com/+AnnekeDubash/posts/FLJzFwhTPk9
+Gary Parks I only think their reply was wrong. There are not wrong for inviting him as they do with every President.
+Matt Tucker Agreed. It's not supposed to be a political event – Trump's ego just made it one. I'm not arguing that they shouldn't have had him, only the way with which they handled what took place.
And FWIW… Trump IS both the sitting President and a candidate for 2020.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/jun/29/35000-a-plate-donald-trump-starts-fundraising-for-2020-re-election
http://www.dictionary.com/browse/candidate