Guest Author
Have you had enough yet? Are you tired of the political posturing, pettiness and pandering?
Are you beginning to feel like you are back in middle school, stuck in an out of control classroom, where bullies reign supreme and little learning is taking place? If not, then I must assume you either just haven’t been paying attention or the preferences you have are not shared with me.
I cannot help but think back to an earlier time, not far back in our history, but just far enough to where the public would have been aghast at what now is offered by those seeking to serve in the nation’s highest office.
I recall the magic of John F. Kennedy and the words he uttered while running for president, imploring us to do more and be more. He touched the magic that lived within each of us.
Today he would be considered too moderate for the Republicans and too conservative for the Democrats. He would be abused for using flowing rhetoric and speaking to the better nature of people.
Imagine a candidate today saying as he did, “Too often we enjoy the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought.”
My guess is that to utter words like that today, one would be given a new nickname, something like “Ivy League Jack.” He would be criticized for being lofty and educated, as if learning now is a liability.
I recently came across an edition of Kennedy’s 1957 Pulitzer Prize winning book of short biographies titled “Profiles in Courage.” In it, he presented the acts of bravery of eight elected officials from America’s past.
These eight chose to take stands that were neither popular nor conforming, acts that took courage and integrity. When was the last time you can recall a politician of national stature standing firmly on principle, doing what he or she knew to be right without regard to the political consequences?
Let’s now visit what some of them did.
Are acts of bravery and conviction what we now expect of those who seek to lead or are we pleased to have name-calling, pandering and fakery?
Kennedy wrote about eight former U.S. senators, finding leaders who chose actions that might have been out of step with their party or the will of the people, but actions that in their hearts they knew to be right. They acted even though the costs were certain to be high.
He selected John Q. Adams for breaking away from the dominant Federalist Party because he refused to be controlled by party leaders.
Daniel Webster of Massachusetts spoke in favor of the Great Compromise of 1850, crafted by Kentuckian Henry Clay, as legislation that might prevent civil war. Webster, often now thought of as one of the top Senators ever to serve, spoke passionately in favor of compromising, even though his native Massachusetts had equal passion for abolition of slavery.
His stance cost Webster his career in the Senate. The passions of the day were far more intense than anything we see today. Nonetheless, Webster spoke for three and a half hours as a leader among his peers, willing to sacrifice his career for the sake of the nation.
Robert Taft of Ohio was the most recent figure Kennedy wrote about. Taft likely lost the Republican nomination for President in 1948 when he spoke out against the Nuremberg War Trials as using ex-post facto laws designed to hold Nazi war criminals responsible for acts committed during WWII.
Kennedy wrote about five others who stood on principle and took positions largely thought to be out of sync with the common wisdom of the day. Many of the positions they took would be controversial even today, even condemned in our age of political correctness.
I am hard-pressed to think of someone recently who has taken a potentially career-ending risk on a matter of principle. We do not expect much from those who seek to lead us, and we do not seem to admire people who follow their convictions. We choose our leaders much like we select products at a grocery store. It’s all marketing and little substance.
A recent Forbes article advocated that those who seek success should spend at least 10 hours a week simply thinking deeply about issues, problems and potential actions, absent outside or electronic distractions.
Watching this season’s political debates, it seems more like those 10 hours are being spent seeking creative gimmicks for taking down opponents, not in building visions of what could be if real leaders remained on the stage.
When Donald Trump claims we are now going to see a new Trump, we should be skeptical. When Trump prides himself in name-calling and sixth-grade will he oratory, why then are we thinking the total package must be something better than that?
Kennedy once said, “Things do not happen. Things are made to happen.”
What we are seeing now on our national stage are things we have helped to make happen. Our choice moving forward, perhaps too late for this election, will be to recapture the values of courage and integrity, creativity and ingenuity, while addressing what we need to be as Americans. Our national future depends upon it.
***
Ed H. Moore resides in Tallahassee, Florida, where he is perpetually awaiting a rebirth of wonder.
