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Though polarizing and controversial to conservatives and liberals alike, in addition to serving as national security advisor under Richard Nixon and secretary of state under Gerald Ford, Henry Kissinger was a life-long, back-channel adviser to many U.S. presidents and foreign leaders throughout the years.

Kissinger’s book,  remains an essential must-read for international relations students, and is the definitive text for the realist school of political thought.

Among the more polite criticisms of Kissinger, he was labeled post-Vietnam by some detractors as “the deep state,” “the permanent establishment,” or “a court intellectual.”  or colorful, unflattering expletives for things they heard or read about Kissinger in the post-Cold War era.

Others may have called him “flamboyant” as the former secretary , or even a “playboy” for  about his date-ability in the magazine of the same name.

When I look at the long life and public service of the late Kissinger, what I see instead is an example of how knowledge, experience, and an ability to make tough decisions in tough moments from limited choices are critical to saving our country. 

People may hate me for saying this, but we need more people in government like Henry Kissinger, who can boldly step out of their safe spheres of either absolute realism or aesthetic ivory tower idealism in the situations that require them and make a call, right or wrong, rather than being paralyzed by indecision. 

There is a lesson in all this for Hawaii, where we too often purport to place such a high premium on abstract concepts such as “the community,” “kuleana,” and even “aloha,” but then are unable to execute decisively when situations require, or worse, cannot advance beyond activism to implementation. It’s too easy to fail at government, then choose to spend the rest of your days at a nonprofit being paid to advocate for the things you personally failed to do when you were in government power. 

Further, today’s Republicans have become too comfortable with their set of professional intellectuals and advisors, and Democrats are likewise too comfortable with their own, and few in this community are ever so sagacious or useful as to effectively serve both spheres of influence. The mark of a truly valuable servant in politics is not someone monopolized by a single political wing, but someone who can serve all factions with useful advice and practical options.

When asked years ago during a press conference about then-President Bill Clinton’s performance in office relative to Richard Nixon, Kissinger told reporters something that stuck with me to this day: “In order to be a good leader, you have to have an understanding of historical cycles and courage. And that is something you can’t get from polls.”

To be fair, Kissinger said and did things over the years which, in the copacetic, sanitized circles of modern academia and social media, could be considered uncouth, arrogant, ruthless, insensitive, and even evil. Famously, even among Israelis,  persists to this day, in which Meir, appealing to Kissinger’s heritage for military help, was rebuffed.  “You must remember that first I am an American, second I am Secretary of State, and third, I am a Jew,” he said.

“In Israel,” Meir pointed out, “we read from right to left.”

Was Kissinger a saint? Of course not. But politics and government service are for people who take action and who can make decisions and work with other difficult people to produce solutions and outcomes that move us forward.

It is too easy in 2023, with the amen chorus of our social media followers and the deceit of being surrounded by hand-picked friends who only believe what we believe, to be comfortable as a virtue signaler with an opinion on everything.

We want people to be perfect without being perfect ourselves, and we expect, with some degree of narcissism, to be revered as experts without actually being experts, and modern government is loaded with people who approach the world this way. 

When we talk about Israel and Gaza in 2023 on social media and what should be done there, we don’t actually live in Israel or Gaza and don’t have to experience the consequences of doing or not doing the things we suggest. When we talk about Ukraine and Russia and what should be done there, we don’t actually live in Ukraine or Russia, and don’t have to be accountable to the extremes of our ideological absolutism. 

It has become easy to excitedly call for things in 2023 without suffering the fallout of the things we demand others accept.

The hubris of being a social media thought leader in 2023 without having any of the experience, any of the academics, or any of the skin-in-the-game to be relevant is something we must be careful to avoid, especially when placing labels on people as “war criminals.” Kissinger was a man who served America, and who did his job, in his moment of service.

That’s a lesson all of us need to remember in these days and months to come. We have to emphasize action and decision-making, right or wrong, over paralysis and no decision-making at all. We have to put a premium on flexibility, over self-defeating ideological rigidity or partisan purity.

We have to be willing to recognize that what this world needs are not perfect men or perfect women, but rather, people who actually show up to work and do work. We desperately need people who can be present, get things done, and do what is necessary to solve problems no one else wants to deal with. That is what functional government is about.

That is the greatest takeaway of the realist school of political science, and I believe, the best lesson from the life of Henry Alfred Kissinger.