Why do Presidents make unpopular decisions in turbulent times?
Maybe, because they actually give a damn about the collective community. Maybe because they have courage. Maybe because they believe in the collective good of the entire country, not just a slice of short-lived acute popularity. It would have been so much easier to go along with the popular thoughts of fear and segregation on the issue of the Manhattan community center.
The legal position of a constitutional lawyer will be for the constitution, and NO tea party, Sarah Palin, or political pundit will have enough arguments to denounce the root of these decisions of “Courage.” Ask a constitutional lawyer a question about the constitution of the United States of which he as hired to be the main representative, he will answer as a constitutional lawyer, in a constitutional way.
There is no emotion, there is NO sensitivity, there will be no crocodile tears streaming from his face for the VICTIMS. We are all victims.
Why?? We need to move forward in this space and time and choose better for ALL people. if we choose to stay stuck in the past, we will always recreate the PAST. It is time to move forward with new thinking and with new actions, because this is WHAT we voted for first. NOW that we have it, everyone from the PAST thinking has a complaint.
We can only do the best with what we were left, from the time before this.
President Kennedy had only 1000 days on office, yet much was accomplished. He was fond of quoting from Dante that the “hottest place in hell is reserved for those who, in times of great moral crisis support their neutrality.”
Thomas Carlyle wrote : ” The courage we desire and prize is not to have the courage to die manfully, but to LIVE manfully. ” Kobe Bryant would say, ” It is time to MAN UP. ” There are lessons from the life of John F. Kennedy and from his death, that in this world of ours, none of us can afford to be onlookers , or just critics on the side lines telling others why it cannot be. This is a time and space in our history now, where we MUST choose to ask, why NOT??
Ours significantly, is a time motivated by what we do with what we have left after a crisis, to begin again, with what we have started. President Clinton said, ” They hire us ( The Democrats) to fix the problems. ” He made unpopular decisions, the history of time shows he did balance the budget.
It was the conviction of both Kennedy and Clinton that the definition of citizenship in a democracy is participation in Government, and that as Francis Bacon put it, ” It is left only to GOD and to the angels to be on lookers, all others MUST take part. “
It was President Kennedy’s conviction that a democracy with this effort by the people must AND CAN face it’s problems, that it must show patience, restraint, compassion, as well as wisdom and strength, and courage in the struggle for solutions which are very rarely easy to find.
It was President Kennedy’s conviction that we should do so successfully, because the courage of those who went before us exists in this land today, in the present generations of Americans.
” We dare not forget that we are heirs of that first revolution. Let the word go forth from this time and place, to friend and foe alike that the torch has been passed to a new generation of Americans, born in this century, tempered by war, disciplined by a hard and bitter peace, proud of our ancient heritage, unwilling to witness or let the slow undoing, eroding of human rights to which this nation has always been committed, and to which we are committed today, at home and around the world. ”
“What happens to the country, to the world, depends on what we do with what others have left us.”
‘The energies and talents of all of us are needed now to meet the challenges, the internal ones of our cities, our farms, ourselves to be successful in the fight for freedom around the globe; in the battles against illiteracy, hunger and disease. Pleasantries, self-satisfied mediocrity will serve us badly. We need the best of many, not just of a few. We must strive for Excellence.”
” The great tragedy was, that if we erred, it was that we erred not just for ourselves, our futures, our country, but for the lives, futures, homes and countries of those who never have been given the opportunity to play a role.
” What happens to the country, to the world, depends on what we do with what others have left us. ”
These words written by Robert F. Kennedy, December 18th, 1963 on the occasion of his brother’s death.
Thank you, President Obama, for courage and conviction on the freedoms that Presidents before you also expressed. Thank you for choosing not be popular when that is what the country expects you to be. Thank you for regarding the consequence of what religious freedoms means to those of the next generation, despite NOT being a popular thing to do, today.
The President is a living symbol of the people, of our past, our present and our future. If it is for the dead to inspire the living, then it is for the living to honor the dead with old, not so popular convictions, expressing BOTH Courage and Excellence.
Courage is not a temporary condition. Courage is a muscle built over years of dissonance, disagreement and negotiating for resolute change. There is nothing temporary about Courage, Honor, or Excellence. The temporary conditions, fleeting pleasantries, and self-serving mediocrity are the consequences of being a ‘show horse, not a work horse’ of popularity.’
Courage is permanent. YOU choose to have it, display it or NOT. When the fate of future generations of a country depend on courage, we need unpopular resolutions born of courage, rather than the fleeting moments embracing the temporary pleasure of POPULARITY.
Angelica Wagner
Life Coach, Speaker, Best Selling Author
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