Jill Long Thompson has had a distinguished career in public service. She served three terms in Congress and was part of the Clinton and Obama administrations. Her new book The Character of American Democracy reflects on her experiences to explain the importance of ethics and character in politics.
Our conversation discusses how character and ethics affect public policy for leaders, but also the importance of character for citizenship in a democracy. The discussion spans many different perspectives with plenty of real world examples. The conversation concludes with a story from Jill about the character of the late Congressman John Lewis.
Jill Long Thompson teaches ethics at Indiana University in Bloomington. She is the author of The Character of American Democracy. From 1989 until 1995 she represented Indiana’s 4th district in the House of Representatives. In 1995 Bill Clinton appointed her Under Secretary of Agriculture for Rural Development where she served until 2001. President Obama nominated her to the Farm Credit Administration Board in 2009 where she served as the board chair and CEO from 2012 until 2014.
Listen at Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher or wherever you find your podcasts. You can find The Character of American Democracy: Protecting Our Past, Protecting Our Future at Amazon or your local library. The music of Apes of the State is featured in the introduction and outro . You can find their music on Spotify or Bandcamp.
