I like this video, not because I agree with every single word, but because I admire the courage to speak it, to put light on the things we want to see the least, to acknowledge the weaknesses we most want to hide. It's this raw honesty that feels so absent in our debates and in our political communication.
Honesty, authenticity, the courage to take a stand: these values that defined many time periods in American History are fading. We are willing to accept leaders that don't give us substance. We are willing to watch debates that are filled more with chest beating and witty quips, than with heartfelt truth and concrete vision.
Of course, when the goal is to win an election in a country with so many people with so much access to information, it's downright dangerous to get nailed down in anything too controversial. The candidates have to make their compromises and choose their positions to satisfy the party, to win the votes, to play the odds on securing the win.
But I don't think leadership was always about securing a win. Although good leadership often does lead to success, it has to start with the courage to be true.
The leaders that took us through the Revolutionary War, the Civil War, and the Civil Rights Movement had to stand up for hard truths. The only way to lead from a seemingly impossible goal into the realm in which it becomes possible is by the courage to stand up for the impossible. Leaders like our country's founders or Abraham Lincoln or Martin Luther King, Jr. had the courage to dream an honest dream. When the odds were against them, when it seemed impossible, when there was some lesser evil in the more practical choices, they held their ground.
And the result?
People were inspired. They came together. They started to believe the impossible was possible, and started to invest themselves in their belief of what was possible. And then, the impossible actually happened.
Today, it does seem impossible to believe: that we'll get away from the Republican / Democrat battles in Washington that keep us gridlocked; that we'll get away from the stranglehold that Wall Street, big corporations, and crony capitalism have on our political system; that there will ever be a sense of unity among U.S. citizens again.
And in this climate, I long for a true leader. I long for someone vying for the position of president to speak the hard truths, to take a stand on risky issues and mean it, to care more about truly leading than about winning.
I hoped President Obama would be that leader, but the truth I see is that we are more divided and the issues are murkier than ever. Instead of delivering clarity and building bridges to bring people together, it seems that his agenda has led us to become even more pitted against one another.
It feels as though we've become afraid to believe that more is possible than this. We're afraid to have the courage to dream, to take a risk, and to invest in something new. For me, it's been a letdown to realize that Obama hasn't turned out to be what I had hoped, but I believe it's more important than ever to maintain that what seems impossible is possible.
The truth is that we never really know what is going to happen, until it actually does.
I still believe that we could come together, that we could stop fighting at home, that we could stop fighting abroad. I believe that we could value educating our children over building our military. I believe that a candidate other than a Democrat or Republican could win our highest office. I believe we could balance the budget and scale back the immense corruption of government power. I believe that we could once again be a county that is more motivated by our sincere hope than by our worst fears.
I believe there is a new chapter for the USA that is waiting to happen, and I'm open to challenge any assertions of impossibility that are in the way.
