Here We Go Again

Many years ago, at a membership meeting in my synagogue, one of our members proposed himself for the position of President when the nominating committee presented its report. Actually he wasn't a member of the Board, nor had he been active in synagogue affairs up until that time. But he recognized that some problems existed, and suggested that he was the man to fix them. Chutzpah. One of the Board members suggested that rather than start at the top he become more involved in the congregation's structure as it already was, and work his way up.

I never saw him again.

There's a kind of leadership style which has a boss instructing his employee “Don't tell me the problems – tell me the solutions.” The approach bespeaks the view that the leader is there simply to supervise the difficulties that others recognize, and to get credit for leading everyone out of the wilderness. But it's an even more troublesome situation when the leader believes that he can identify – indeed he has already identified – the problems that exist, and that he can solve them all. It's the approach of the “outsider” who can correct the errors caused by those who had theretofore been involved. It takes someone not caught up in the organization's internal politics.

And that's where we are now. The current campaign for the presidency pits an individual who has no experience in organized politics and government against one who has. Whatever the personal qualifications of the other, the Republican has no experience governing but claims that he can solve all of our country's problems. He's a populist whose main capability, in the eyes of voters, is that he's a strong (loud) advocate of positions which provide simple solutions to complex problems – the ones he claims were created by those who have spent their careers dealing with them. His lack of tact and his inability to relate to those with whom he would have to deal are strengths, and would bring them around to his positions.

Sadly, his opponent, the Democrat, is not much better. She also has a powerful ego, but has shown herself to be, at best, ignorant of what is going on and what is being done in her name, and, at worst, complicit in improper and possibly illegal activities. And she has displayed a pattern of withholding information unless forced to reveal it. Perhaps she isn't quite the villain painted by her opponent, however she isn't the candidate whom we need to preside over our country. She won't lead us out of the wilderness.

But she's probably what we'll get. Our best hope is that we can survive the next four years without a major disaster and that by then we'll have regained our sanity and selected candidates fit for the office. Ego isn't an adequate qualification, whether it's in the form of a braggart with a following that reflects his unearned confidence, or a politician skilled in vote-getting but who shows signs that she would govern poorly.

Whom should we blame? According to Pogo Possum, We have met the enemy and he is us.

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NOTE: I've said all this before, but I see no fix to the problem and it continues to vex me.

September 29, 2016