I’m sure, like most of the readers, we’ve all been breathlessly watching Shark Week on the Discovery Channel. Besides learning that orcas are incredibly ferocious and stunningly intelligent creatures (spoiler alert: they travel in packs and hunt great white sharks to harvest their livers), I learned more about a fascinating phenomenon in sharks called tonic immobility.
Despite being among the ocean’s most powerful and fearful predators, a shark can be rendered completely motionless. You simply flip certain species onto their backs, stimulate specific receptors, and they enter a temporary state of paralysis. Once under, their instincts and ability to move disappear. In short, the apex predator becomes helpless.
Marine scientists believe that tonic immobility may be a defensive response or a neurological reflex. Whatever the cause, one thing is certain: for those few moments, the potentially dangerous shark is no longer in control and, for that moment, is rendered powerless. As I listened to the explanation of tonic immobility, I couldn’t help relating this incredible phenomenon to the more mundane world of politics. Anyone really surprised?
I have long preached that many politicians can suffer from their own version of tonic immobility. While it usually doesn’t involve being physically turned upside down, we have seen far too many members of the political species overwhelmed by polls, consultants, social media noise, cable news, special interests, or simply the fear of making the wrong decision. Instead of doing their job and leading, they freeze. Sound familiar?
The public suffers when our politicians are figuratively frozen: problems continue to mount, budget conversations drag on, infrastructure is delayed, reforms are ignored, and professional malaise spreads. This is political tonic immobility.
Politicians are shark-like in more ways than just their ability to become tonically immobile. Much like sharks, many politicians possess incredible strength. They have authority, resources, talented staff, and the power to improve lives and get things done. And like many sharks, if they fail to continue swimming—to continue getting things done, they die.
The public has an expectation for our elected officials. They want leaders, not spectators. As I have written many times, the time for an elected official is unusually short, about as brief as the average career for a lineman in the NFL. The charge is to make difficult decisions daily, accept criticism and move forward, and even in uncertain times.
Every meaningful accomplishment carries some risk. The great men and women of history are all universally exalted now, but they once danced on the razor’s edge of public favor like the rest of us. The duty to act is the price of admission when you take your oath of office. The people don’t tolerate tonic immobility. Our society has no shortage of intelligent people in office—we have a shortage of individuals who are willing to move about freely and act courageously.
Here is the good news—tonic immobility doesn’t last forever. Eventually, the shark can right itself and get back to business, and elected officials can shake off a temporary freeze and achieve what voters expect. The question is whether this correction can be made before real damage is done.
Let’s get back to our last few days of summer.