THE OTHER WAY AROUND

It is a rainy, snowy night in Michigan.

There is just enough snow to coat the ground.
It was in the upper 40’s yesterday. We did some caulking. And then it rained. You are not supposed to caulk when it is going to rain/snow and go below freezing.

As I think of this and other things, thankfully, other thoughts intrude.

One of them is the observation that individuals and generations demonstrate similar patterns of behavior as they mature.

That is, the young adult imagines that his challenges/problems are somehow unique to him; that his/her reactions to them will be, or hopefully will be, somehow unique, or at least better than the ways that his/her forbears dealt with their challenges.

I was guilty of this foolishness.

I know better now.
Perhaps I did a few things better than the Old Folks, but they did a pretty good job. I could have learned more from them than I was ready to.

And now our generation, really several generations, by no means only my generation, have elected b.o. to bring CHANGE to this world of ours.

It was time, he proclaimed, to finally, at long last, reign in the forces of evil in whatever shape they happened to present themselves in.

It was time to get serious about changing for the better American politics, economics, diplomacy, even certain cultural and social norms, and on and on.

CHANGE!

Out with the old. In with the new.
Soft power.
Extend the hand of friendship – the carrot without the stick.

There had been way too much stick. Simply extend the open hand.

Simply take over banks and businesses and guarantee no failure.

No failure. No personal responsibility.
Never mind that most folks are paying their bills.

The matter of American health care – out of control. Not good enough.
CHANGE it.

I could go on.
Not going to.

Instead, without citing bibliographies and references – I cannot do that because I have not done the research – I will suggest that the nations of the world today face versions of problems and challenges they have always faced, and that the difficulty of coping with these problems and challenges is compounded by the fact that the leadership of the Good Guys {USA, UK, and several others] is pretty shabby indeed.

And here we come to it: democracies get the kind of leadership they deserve.

So do individuals, by the way, in civilized, democratic societies. SMALL d.

Anyway, we are suggesting that it is not the severity of modern problems that distinguishes our modern world from that of our antecedents. Rather, it is the shabby leadership which the democracies have elevated to positions of power.

And the blame for that shabbiness must rest with the electorate.

Our antecedents elevated such folk as Lincoln, FDR, Truman, and Reagan to the hot seat. Across the Pond, they did so with Churchill.

The leader does not win the war; beat the odds; lay the beast to rest.

The people do all of that with the Big Guy leading the way.
b.o. has yet to demonstrate any of the necessary qualities.
On the contrary, he has from the beginning of his appearance on the public stage demonstrated quite the opposite.

He is a Chicago politician newly arrived on the scene.

We hope the apple has fallen far from the tree.

He has a lot to prove.

True, this man of the people has not been on the job very long. But we who opposed his election have witnessed lots to discourage us. And we still are.

McCain was no giant either, in our opinion.
A military hero yes. A patriot yes.

A demonstrated leader of the co-greatest nation in the history of the earth?
No.

A great people elevate great leaders.

We have elevated b.o. Well, we at The Study did not. You know what I mean.

The supporters of b.o. do not realize this truth: that a great leader does not make a people great. It works the other way around.

A great people elevate great leaders.

Churchill was once congratulated as being the savior of the British people, for giving them the strength to carry on.

His response was typical – and honest:

"The nation had the lion's heart. I had the luck to give the roar," Churchill is reported once to have said about his pivotal role in the Second World War.

The American people had a lion’s heart. I am sure they still do. But I fear that it has been sublimated, put away.

America faces challenges in many respects as great in their ways as any the nation has ever faced.

And the leader the nation has elected has never in any way, at any time up to and including the present moment, demonstrated any of the qualities which would seem to indicate the qualities of leadership which are needed in the
21st Century.