I am sad for America today. I’m sad for the world, really. We’ve come to a point where we’ve reaped what we’ve sown. It’s too easy, too much of a cop-out, to look at the two current candidates, the parties, or the media and blame them, to say that they’re the problem. In reality, we’re reaping what we’ve sown. I was so hopeful that we’d have become intelligent and historically-savvy enough to recognize our current problems.
But we haven’t. We’re still divisive. We still elevate politics over principle. We still keep pushing agendas that alienate large portions of the population. And so we have two candidates who have track records of inconsistencies and dishonesty. Neither prominent party produced a candidate with a history of governance, a reputation for compassion with others, and demonstrated ability to lead a People. And yet, it looks like, one of them will be called “Commander-in-Chief” come next January.
I am sad because the next four years seem to have the potential to be really bad. Yet, ironically they hold the chance to be four of the BEST. One of these two candidates have the opportunity to be a unifying-force, to actually leave a legacy as one of the greatest presidents in our nation’s history. The time is right for a unifying leader to step in, to fix what’s happened over the last 16+ years and to be an “American” President.
I am sad for America today. On this Independence Day, when I think of the words of the Constitution and then compare them to current campaign speeches and Tweets… well… we’ve come so far – and not in a good direction. And we have ourselves and the media avenues we love to blame.
I wonder what it will take for us to step up and return to principled approaches to leadership. And whether we know where to step (see Brexit and the failed promises and fast exits of the Leave leadership). It’s time to for principled leaders to lead sacrificially for the sake of a People versus seeing the office and the People as serving them.