Character always matters. Character is the foundation of civilizations, it is the font of understanding a person’s value and values. People of discernment always judge a person based upon their character or want of it. At the core of character is good judgment (and hopefully wisdom). Character always matters except where ideology is concerned.
Character can be understood by a person’s actions and associations. During the 2008 Presidential campaign apparent deficiencies in character – mainly seen through associations with extremists and domestic terrorists, failure to release pertinent personal information and academic writings/grades, and a less than stellar senatorial voting record of “present” were entirely ignored by the majority of the electorate apparently unconcerned with such matters as character.
With falling poll numbers, a disturbingly split and degraded society, and partisans on both sides of the political divide louder than any shrinking rational middle the country now faces a growing economic crisis while fighting multiple wars. The entire world is affected by the precipitous drop in the US financial markets, not only Americans.
The Dow was at approximately -440 when the President, some 40 minutes behind schedule, delivered his partisan-and-blame speech on the economy on Monday afternoon – his most important speech up to this time – whereupon the Dow dropped further to close past -600. The roller coaster markets continued to shake as Tuesday ended up, but Wednesday brought another -520. Instability in the markets translates to fear.
The downgrade by S&P is fundamentally about a loss of trust and faith. Investors at all levels are emotional capitalists trying to gain a profit and also protect their funds in a hostile “irrational market.” In this market “protection of assets” mainly translates to selling as prices collapse.
Now more than ever the country requires leadership that can bridge gaps, make partisan opponents into colleagues, and bring stability back to the economy, to political life in general and to world markets. Ideologues are not “bridge builders.”
American politics has always been a nasty business. Rancor and discord are part and parcel of American public discourse and always will be; this is a necessary by-product of freedom of speech. For those motivated by partisanship and ideology compromise is not a common approach particularly during crises when character and leadership skills matter most.
Only through the force of character and the exercise of leadership, good judgment, and wisdom (so rarely seen in modern American politics) can opposition forces be brought into “the fold” so that crises can be effectively resolved.
In a letter to a friend of March 2, 1809 Thomas Jefferson, then ending his difficult second term and longing for retirement to Monticello, described a national politics of capable leaders all motivated for the national good. If such people fail, Jefferson assumed that failure was unavoidable.
But the enormity of the times in which I have lived, have forced me to take a part in resisting them, and to commit myself on the boisterous ocean of political passions… I leave everything in the hands of men so able to take care of them, that if we are destined to meet misfortunes it will be because no human wisdom could avert them.
There are few who now suggest that the current fiscal or international/military crises (and failures) faced by our country were inevitable, fewer still that “no human wisdom could avert them.” There is a sense across the country that our leadership has failed; the drastic fall in the markets during and after the president’s accusatory speech on Monday afternoon appears to support this contention.
Ours is a world of crisis upon crisis. Our leaders have a higher duty than to ideology and partisanship – to leave this great country intact, powerful, and strong for future generations. Each side has its closely held beliefs; the work of the people is supposed to override those drivers that are purely ideological – there are many ways to solve a given problem but the problem must be solved.
A government that cannot resolve problems, work with the opposition through argument and force of character and do the work of the people has failed. This is why we have elections. If the failure is criminal, we have also impeachment, too. Impeachment is the great “check” in the “check and balance” safety net that the Founders designed into our political system to guarantee that the office of the president is not abused.
While the president rightly suggested in his remarks of Monday that our problems can all be solved if everyone works hard to find a solution (and sacrifice and “pay our fair share”) the result was a further almost immediate 200 point drop in the Dow. The problem is not entirely one of unfortunate and confrontational tone in our current leadership, but of character. Simply put, there are few who appear to believe most anything that is said by the current leadership. Trust in our national leadership is at an all time low; this is not only bad for the party currently in power, it is disastrous for our democracy.
As Americans we are obligated to pass the legacy of Jefferson and Adams and the other great Founders to the generations that follow us. More than ideology more than Nobel Prizes character matters most.
Throughout all the utopian fantasies and mistaken views of how the world functions – which are the foundations of the policies of the current administration – from the economy, to foreign affairs, to immigration and what “tolerance” means, what America is supposed to be, the definition of “nation” and “citizen,” and the failed concepts of “let’s just all get along because we’re all so multicultural, politically correct and ‘nice,'” is a failure to acknowledge those fundamental aspects of human interaction that drive both history and current events. This skewed worldview of the current leadership is at the center of why they are no longer believed, and why the American people are rejecting both them and their failed “philosophy.”
Great leaders always find a way to work with their opponents. The very best leaders turn their opponents into allies – they mainly do this through character. This is not happening in the United States which means that there must be a change – a change that we can believe in.
There have always been ideological differences in American politics; this will never change. When it comes to American leadership nothing is as important as character but for a loyalty to, and affection for, his/her country, fellow citizens, and the Constitution of the United States.