Where have all the great leaders gone?

Where have all the great leaders gone?  You know, the ones who brought America together, united us behind a vision and personally sacrificed to make America better for the future than it was in their day.  George Washington paid his troops from his personal resources when the country needed it during the Revolutionary War.  Adams, Jefferson, Franklin and all the founders literally put their lives on the line to establish this great nation.  Abraham Lincoln was physically drained by a war that was fought to keep us together.  FDR, like his policies or not, united us with his fireside chats and kept the post depression America unified.  John Kennedy rallied us with the race into space and with words like, “Ask not what your country can do for you…” and Ronald Reagan captured us with his belief in American exceptionalism.  We desperately need these kinds of leaders today, because when America is united we can do almost anything!

In 1776 a unanimous Continental Congress signed the Declaration of Independence and established this country, pulling us away from the control of the most powerful empire on earth at the time.  In World War II a United USA joined the Allied forces in Europe and changed the outcome of the war and the history of this planet.  After 9/11/2001, this country came together as I have never witnessed before or since and rebuilt the city of New York and kept this country safe for the next ten years.

Unfortunately, according to the most recent Rasmussen polling, 86% of Americans say that members of Congress are more interested in their careers than in helping others.  We have politicians that are willing to demonize large portions of the American people if they think it will help them win an election.  Maxine Waters, Congresswoman from California’s 35^th district, recently told the country that the Tea Party could, “go to hell.”   President Obama has called Republicans “the enemy”, Nancy Pelosi has implied that Republicans want people to die and the DNC suggests that Congressman Ryan wants to shove old ladies off a cliff.  To be fair, Mitch McConnell, Senate Minority Leader, said that his most important goal starting in 2009 was to make sure President Obama was a one term President.  Really?  Not jobs?  Not balancing the budget?  All of this is highly divisive.  They must think that it will help them get re-elected because it is certainly not uniting the country.

What politicians forget is that America is a blend of all of these beliefs.  If the numbers are consistent, 15% of our soldiers are Tea Party supporters, roughly 30% of our firefighters have conservative views and, believe it or not, many teachers would not consider themselves to be liberal.  Even if these numbers aren’t perfect, do we want to call even one soldier the enemy?  Do we want to call even one firefighter an SOB?  Do we want to tell even one teacher to go to hell, especially when we agree on “what” to do and only differ on “how” to do it.

The good news for Americans is that there is very little difference in “what” any of our politicians want to do.  I have read both the Republican and Democratic platforms and even the Tea Party’s mission statement and found that all sides are for fiscal discipline.   Everyone is for creating opportunity for all of our people, and all want to create jobs and improve the lives of our current working class and for our children.  No group is for reckless spending, unemployment or racism, yet that is what politicians will often accuse “the other side” of in order to get elected.

The other piece of good news for America is that there is wisdom in both sides of the political argument, not in the extreme versions of either, but in the compromise ground found in the middle.  We need the fiscal discipline of the conservative side but we also need to protect our citizens from themselves, a more liberal focus.  “We the People” have the power to elect our representatives, and we must exercise our right to vote, not blindly to a party, but with thoughtful consideration of the issues.  We must also, and I believe more importantly, elect men and women with integrity and love of country.  We must elect leaders who can and will unite us into the great nation we can be.

I firmly believe that the biggest challenge for our next President, no matter who it might be, will be to bring this country together again.  To paraphrase President Obama, there is no black America or white America or Conservative or Liberal America – There is just a United States of America.  Just saying it is not enough.  We need leaders who can actually bring that vision to life.