A PLEA FOR WISDOM AND DECENCY

I have this deeply felt sadness and ache.  I watch the Republican debates and I hear the crowd  cheer about letting people without insurance die.  Last night the crowd booed an openly gay soldier asking a question.  The candidates appear to be lining up for their chance to throw more meat at their hungry wolves.  My fear is that this movie won’t end well.

In my opinion leadership is not just about rallying the troops.  Appropriate leadership also educates.  Appropriate leadership does not sink to the lowest common denominator.  If this were not true then men like Hitler and Mussolini would be celebrated.  They each did a masterful job in getting a lot of people to do their bidding.  It was the direction that they led their followers to that was the determining factor.

It’s easy to understand that in our current political climate the Bachman’s, Santorum’s, Limbaugh’s and the rest of the Mensa corps that are the loudest in the Republican Party will have their moment in the sun.  But where are the voices of rationality and wisdom? Not everyone who has ever been a Republican politician takes their marching orders from the Koch brothers and some unfortunate directive from God.  Why their silence?  They have nothing to lose since they are out of office.

George H. W. Bush stopped our troops from invading Baghdad.  He was able to have the wisdom to not destabilize that  country.  I wonder what would have happened if he had had the strength to openly criticize his son.  Honest differences of opinion is wonderfully healthy for growth and insight.  

Today's news was partially about Obama changing No Child Left Behind.  There is much talk about how the school system is letting our children down.  If the clowns on the stage are in fact the best that America has to offer it won't matter what we do with the school system.