Run-up to Election

It's always nice when the end of election season is upon us. I just grow tired of it. Yes, my liberal arts education in political science (even that!) is not enough for me to be tired of the rhetoric from the campaign trail. The end of the elections season the end of the half-truths that bombard us from every angle. It's always good to have closure around elections.

I still decry my dis-infatuation with political events to be greatly to the lack of one major element that I find lacking in the political sphere today: statesmanship. I don't know how the dictionary would define it, but when Steven Covey suggests "think win-win" he is suggesting for opposing ideas to share information and work to discover a third way (beyond what either originally had proposed) to achieve something better. In politics, the idea of discrediting the opposition is the primary goal.

Who hasn't watched a couple talking heads across the newsdesk or on opposite monitors from any TV news broadcast and seen this in plain display? When yielded 30 seconds to share an opinion, the viewer typically gets 25 seconds of insults followed by 5 seconds of insight. Then, the other opinion has to throw mud. It's truly amazing when the question is about tax policy and the opposing forces (can we call them "op-for"?) spend their whole allotment to talk about something totally different!

Let me shift gears to the positive. Abraham Lincoln was an amazing example of true statesmanship. Here is a guy leading an unpopular war with over 600,000 dead -- at the time nearly 2% of the nation's population (slave & free of all ages). 2% seems small, but 2% of today's US population would be near the 5.9M level today -- definitely a huge number that would be impacting lives everywhere in the union.

Lincoln looked like he was going to lose this election but signed a pledge that said he was going to do everything possible to win the war before he was removed from office. The pledge stated:

This morning, as for some days past, it seems exceedingly probable that this Administration will not be re-elected. Then it will be my duty to so co-operate with the President elect, as to save the Union between the election and the inauguration; as he will have secured his election on such ground that he cannot possibly save it afterwards. (Basler, Roy P. (1955), Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln, New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press)

Putting re-election aside to do what was needed to save the country? Ah, brilliant and bold statesmanship putting the needs of others ahead of his personal desires. Of course, after this, some major victories went the way for the Union and Lincoln ended up winning (with only the votes of the northern states of course) the election of 1864.

Where can we find a statesman like this to put in office? I'd rather have him working for my country than working for his own self-serving issues. No surprise that Abraham Lincoln is often at the top of the list for US Presidents that made significant impacts and influence.