Wouldn’t it be lovely if, in 2021, we installed a president (and legislators as well) who had intelligence, compassion, honesty, integrity, humility, dignity, maturity, unshakable ethics; an individual who had an interest in the welfare of every citizen; who valued truth and made every decision based on reality and on the impact of those decisions on coming generations; who is more substance than façade; whose first allegiance is to people and the health of the land on which we depend; someone beyond the need to lie in order to gain counterfeit status; someone genuinely motivated to protect the vulnerable; who knows the value of relationships, of diversity, and of the land that we hold in common; someone inclined toward self-reflection and who accepts responsibility for the fruits of her or his actions; an individual who inspires our own compassion, generosity, nobility, and the courage to tackle our personal and collective challenges in constructive ways; someone we could respect, and hold up as a role model for our children; who counted wealth as the ability to give away rather than to hoard, as well as the success of ordinary people; someone equally comfortable and welcome in any religious building, as well as in a forest.
(Imagine a rating scale that evaluated each candidate on these attributes.)
One can certainly also anticipate the various interests and factions that would be threatened by such a person, and the smear campaign that would arise – but that would tell us something about them as well.
I suspect such people are out there and, perhaps, some of our current candidates might have this potential – or, at least, some of it. In the end, I wonder how we might need to change in order to call forth such a person.
Amen
Yes, indeed. I envision such persons are among us. It would also be a great vision that these persons would not have to walk through gauntlets of fork tongue media and made-up mud fields from adversaries. Honest, fact-finding investigative reporting with the highest ethics will need to be in place as shields against ignorance and fear.
I know we can all create this vision to truth, without fear or judgement , but by standing in our truth and knowing that instead of a dream, it is our reality. And so it is
Well said, Cynthia.
I wholly concur with your profile of a ideal political party platform (Imagine 1). Too often politicians play to people’s base instincts like accumulation of stuff (economy), protection of territory, and whichever buzz word stimulates fear and desire in people like health care, more building and highway infrastructure. Seldom does a campaign or a call to support legislation dwell on what people value most and the philosophical discussion that could stimulate.
It is refreshing stimulus to watch many young people call for an awakening to protect our earth: https://www.earthday.org/19-youth-climate-activists-you-should-follow-on-social-media/
Indeed! We so often neglect our core values under the pressure of survival, social turmoil and manufactured crises.