Clarence Darrow once said that when he was a boy he was told that anybody could become President and he, as an adult, was beginning to believe it.
If he only knew!
One of the frequent comments bandied about today is why our choices for President are so flawed. Surely, out of 320 million people, there must be many who could bring to the election intelligence, character, and a clean record.
Back in the time of the redoubtable Mr. Darrow, distribution of information was quite limited. There were newspapers, radio, and newsreels at the movies, but the covering of the globe in nanoseconds was unimaginable. Not so today. In first half of the 20th century the gathering of data proceeded at a snail’s pace and the ability to hide unpleasantries in the candidates’ pasts required little skill.
There are few among us who do not have episodes in the past that we hope are never public knowledge, but in placing one’s name for elective office we may rest assured that they will come to light. A sensible person should think long and hard about exposing family to such a lambasting.
Even if a record is nearly spotless, “facts” will be manufactured, innuendo can be repeated until it assumes the proportion of truth, and clever speech writers can blacken any brush needed to paint an unfortunate picture of the opposing candidate.
Any lie, repeated with enough fervor and frequency, gains the statue of truth to an audience receptive to hear. For those who don’t think that happen, read the history of the Weimar Republic in 1933 Germany.
This year we are being asked to embrace change, and God knows that is a fertile field in which to plow. It takes no talent to list the areas in which our country is in trouble, where continuing in the same path seems perilous. It is quite another matter to suggest practical policies that will actually address the issues.
“Pleasant speak” is the currency of political policy and to suggest the hard truth needed is to guarantee a massive abdication of support. Only in the midst of national crisis such as 9/11 is the public willing to take a hard path. We see how we were misled by poor intelligence in an effort that destabilized the entire Middle East. Don’t forget about Vietnam . . . what a disaster that was!
If there is one quality on which we all should agree is necessary for our leaders it is character. “Character counts,” is a phrase often heard but frequently shifted to a back burner when rhetoric replaces reason. When lack of honesty is flaunted as a virtue, when loyalty to self preempts the commonweal, when megalomania mesmerizes the dissatisfied, when a false messianic vision is substituted for the hard reality of our situation, then we, as the oldest extant democracy, are in great peril.
We have named no names; we have not catalogued the failings of both major parties but they should be apparent to all. That we have no good choice is a cliché but we must face the realization that there is no such thing as not making a choice.
Past history perhaps may be some comfort. Throughout the 44 presidencies we have endured, there have been some real disasters; there have also been some astoundingly surprising heroes. There are the elderly among us who remember Harry Truman elevated from mediocrity by FDR’s death, making a remarkable record despite early predictions of catastrophe.
Can we hope for such a miracle next month? Of one thing we can be certain: a failure to vote means we will deserve whatever we get.
This is a fearful time and there are those among us who would promote it. We would do well to remember the phrase with which FDR solidified our resolve: “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.”
Good words, but we should beware of those who promote fear to advance their own agenda.
Hayden Hollingsworth