Food for Thought
Lately, I have been researching great presidents, including Jefferson, Lincoln, FDR and JFK, for a commercial educational writing project. Reading through the collected speeches and writings of each of these men, all of whom led during crucial historic times, it struck me that through their superior communication skills, they were all able to articulate a vision of a better future in such a way that the average American was inspired to act in accordance with that vision for the common good. In the classical sense, isn’t that what great leadership is all about?
If we accept that, then the reverse must also be true and may help explain the serious problems we now face as a city, state and country, where the poor communication skills of our elected chief executives betray a serious lack of vision and leadership skills. Therefore, doesn’t it make sense that we could evaluate candidates based on observations of these skills and weed out the inferior ones who obviously don’t have them? This would lead to far more effective leadership than voting based on personality, political party, race, gender, media spin, single-issue politics, or the lesser-of-evils that many of us seem to be doing now.
The tone of courageous, visionary leadership is always struck at the top. Great words indicate great minds:
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal ...
... we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from this earth.
The joy and moral stimulation of work no longer must be forgotten in the mad chase of evanescent profits. These dark days will be worth all they cost us if they teach us that our true destiny is not to be ministered unto but to minister to ourselves and to our fellow-men.
Let the word go forth from this time and place, to friend and foe alike, that the torch has been passed to a new generation of Americans.
Where are the equivalents of those inspirational words and minds today?
The past eight years have been marked by poor leadership at all levels, and the condition of our society and our standing in the world have seen a steady deterioration because of it. We are at a critical turning point because of the not-so-bright, inarticulate leaders we have elected. If we are going to survive the current mess and return to prosperity in the future, we are going to have to take the responsibility of our civic duties as citizens very seriously in the upcoming General Election. If we don’t, we may lose our democracy, culture and unique way of life. Indications are that the majority of our citizens accept that this is surely the case and are going to turn out in large numbers in November.
I think that most of us long for an Abe Lincoln or Jack Kennedy to sound the clarion call to action on an inspiring vision. If we really listen closely to what the candidates are saying and how they are saying it, we may just be lucky enough find the right leaders this time and from now on. Since so much is now at stake, we citizens must keep our ears and minds open. Our future survival depends upon it.
“… it struck me that through their superior communication skills, they were all able to articulate a vision of a better future in such a way that the average American was inspired to act in accordance with that vision for the common good. In the classical sense, isn’t that what great leadership is all about?”
I find much irony in the fact that the most Christian-hating segment of the electorate has been conquered by another slick politician skilled in the art of old-time country preaching. Obama, like Clinton before him, understands—at least at the instinct level, that there burns within America’s educated and successful Left an enigmatic emptiness that is there for the filling. An emptiness that cannot be filled with tangible truths or factual achievements; an emptiness that cannot be satiated with possessions, pop culture, or Prozac; an emptiness that hungers for the warmth of sweet promise and exhilarating salvation.
Mr Van Zandt, your spiritual hunger is showing, and I suspect that if you and the millions of other hungry Americans were getting your fill in church instead of looking for it in the political sermons of Obama, the eco-evangelism of Gore, or the primordial deliverance of rock concerts, Brother Obama would today be stirring a very small congregation and the electorate would be demanding more substance from its candidates.
My apologies to all those awaiting the Second Coming, but the truth—the truth we desperately need to confront, is that our system as it now stands is incapable of giving us the leadership we need at the national level. No matter how gifted or experienced, if a potential candidate does not pass muster with the special interests running the show, he or she is fated to be permanently silenced or hopelessly marginalized.
Obama has elevated himself to the national level by playing ball. Whatever successes he might have (and believe me, if he wins the election I will be rooting for him to succeed) will be secondary to his fulfilling the demands of the special interests to whom he is obliged. “We” the American public “shall overcome” only when the overcoming serves or does not interfere with the goals of special interests. America will not solve its problems in the Middle East as long as our having problems over there serves the interests of the most powerful lobby over here. America will not protect its economic future as long as that future remains in conflict with the special interests making their fortunes today.
No amount of inspiring rhetoric will change the fact that no matter who wins the election, we, the people, lose.
Frustrated
Will wonders never cease! I completely agree with you on this:
</i>“our system as it now stands is incapable of giving us the leadership we need at the national level. No matter how gifted or experienced, if a potential candidate does not pass muster with the special interests running the show, he or she is fated to be permanently silenced or hopelessly marginalized.</i>
You sound more like Gore Vidal than Victor Davis-Hanson today. Bravo!
I agree with your sentiment so long as the leaders are writing their own speeches.
For example, look at Ronald Reagan. He was a great orator when reading from a teleprompter, but one of the most incompetent presidents in history. When reporters would ask him a question in an unscripted setting he would feign a hearing problem to avoid answering. Probably because he needed to run his ideas past Nancy’s astrologer for approval. (Google: Reagan astrology)
On the other hand, I remember watching Clinton on CSPAN at a UN function. The leaders of the major powers of the world were in an informal gathering, and someone asked Clinton a question. I have forgotten the details, but I remember in true Clintonian fashion he went on and on with the answer while covering a multitude of topics, and then bought everything together for his answer. By the time he arrived at his answer, I had forgotten the original question!
The funny part of this was watching the rest of the world’s leaders sit there like children in awe of the master.
#1-Frustrated Finfan,
Thank you for your eloquent post. You did an excellent job of expressing my feelings on this topic. “Walking the talk,” is something I rarely ever see people do in life never mind in politics. Anyone can give a great speech filled with promises, but when it comes to putting words to action, ah therein is where the true difficulty lies. It is true that the needs and the will of the people are rarely put in the forefront of the “system,” unless of course it serves some one powerful, or some entity hidden in the shadows, a great political or financial purpose.
You are also correct in asserting that as long as making a profit at the expense of the blood, sweat, tears, and fears of hard working people, or politicians owing someone for getting them into office, or as long as a senseless war is benefiting some one somewhere, or putting hard working citizens into debt to benefit a corporation here or over seas, or squeezing every bit of integrity out of decent people, while hypocritically teaching our children the importance of hard work, and honesty remains the status quo, “change, and government, “for the people, by the people,” will remain nothing more than just an empty promise held out of reach. A promise delivered in the shape of beautifully crafted, eloquently spoken hollow words that bring false hope to those who still want to believe that “change,” is actually possible, and that it is not just something you read in a book that starts, “Once Upon A Time, Long Ago…”~
Jack:
I enjoyed reading your thoughtful piece. America needs great leaders, but we also need better people. I think that the “vision for the common good” is not delivered by a leader, but created at the grass roots level by people living their lives in a fair and honest way, by neighbors looking out for each other, etc.
Everyone talks about “community” as if it were some tangible thing, something that governments can produce and deliver. I don’t believe that it can be. I do believe that a “sense of community” can be created, but only by the people themselves. All I know, is that San Jose was a better place when I was a kid. People looked out for each other a lot more than they do today. We need to find a way to get that back.
pete campbell
Can any of you koolaid imbibed morons name one ‘change’ that the messiah has wrought?
Here’s one.
“They point out that Obama not only voted against a ban on so-called partial-birth abortion, a procedure the late Democratic Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan of New York once called “too close to infanticide,’’ but opposed a bill to protect the life of an infant who survived a late-term abortion.
I guess the messiah doesn’t believe the “audacity of hope” applies to babies that have survived the initial attempts to kill it.
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2008/05/obamas_abortion_vulnerability.html
#5- Pete,
What you’ve said is absolutely true! I come from back east and that is exactly the mentality I grew up with. (Since I’ve come to California, I have often felt like a fish out of water because I don’t see that sense of honesty, or community here.)
Many people want or always look to a leader to make things better because basically, they are lazy or indifferent to the needs of others. They don’t realize that “change,” begins from within, and that they can create the change they want to see just by caring about someone or something past their own backyard.
By volunteering our time to groups helping children, creating and participating in Neighborhood Watch Programs, participating in Council Meetings, Neighborhood Association Meetings, serving on Commissions, Boards, Committees, or voting carefully or JUST voting in the first place, or by watching out for one another when someone is in need, and looking at youth as “ours,” we would be making the “change we want to see.”
We wouldn’t be without resources and we wouldn’t have to be rationed if we voluntarily recycled, conserved water and energy in our own homes. By purchasing items made in the USA and refusing to do business with or buy items from companies that outsource work to companies over seas, or by taking public transit instead of being robbed at the gas pump, or by going to small family owned businesses to purchase things we need, we could strengthen our own economy, and we would be sending a message that what is happening in our country right now, is just not acceptable.
If McCain wins we’ll go back in time to the middle ages!
http://www.ontheissues.org/john_mccain.htm
http://www.issues2000.org/Domestic/John_McCain_Civil_Rights.htm
http://www.johnmccain.com/Informing/issues/95b18512-d5b6-456e-90a2-12028d71df58.htm
Brilliant post, finfan and judging by the other comments it seems that there is widespread agreement that our political process has been corrupted.
Unfortunately, there is a gigantic segment of the electorate that doesn’t seem to understand that the corruption only gets worse the more we ask Government to solve all of our problems. Special interests have all the power because we have given it to them.
If we the people want to get our political power back then it is the words of that evil villain, Ronald Reagan, that we should be looking to for inspiration.
government, not GOVERNMENT.
Things are different now, Jack.
We fight advertising and television for the mindshare of the young (I am in marketing).
The next generation—thanks mostly to the internet—will not have the time or mindshare to spare for the whole ‘I Have a Dream’ speech.
Leadership will 100% still remain the ability to articulate a vision. But it will be with smaller soundbytes, metaphors, and audio-visual creations.
As with all generational rhetoric: if your parents don’t hate it, you’re doing it wrong.