Random Thoughts On Our Leaders

If one more person asks me about what I think of the impeachment process, I'm gonna scream. No, I was not in favor of impeachment...not because I think feckless leader is innocent. I was against the idea of impeachment because it was going to be turned into a sideshow and the Democrats would be unable to stop the circus train from going off the rails. This is not governmental business as usual; this is something completely insane. More like Hitler and the takeover of Nazi Germany which We, the People, could never fathom; still  chanting NEVER AGAIN, we elected a less-than-benevolent despot. The man is a nutter and there is nothing to be done about it.

So, to remedy my own malaise, I have assembled some quotes about our government and our nation's would-be character from established leaders:

The strength and power of despotism consists wholly in the fear of resistance.

                                  

When men yield up the privilege of thinking, the last shadow of liberty quits the horizon.

                       Thomas Paine                                 (January 29, 1736 - June 8, 1809)

There is nothing which I dread so much as a division of the republic into two great parties, each arranged under its leader, and concerting measures in opposition to each other. This, in my humble apprehension, is to be dreaded as the greatest political evil under our Constitution.   

John Adams (October 30, 1735 - July 4, 1826)

 

The surface of American society is covered with a layer of democratic paint, but from time to time one can see the old aristocratic colours breaking through.

                                   Alexis de Tocqueville (29 July 1805 – 16 April 1859)

We the people are the rightful masters of both Congress and the courts, not to overthrow the Constitution but to overthrow the men who pervert the Constitution.

Abraham Lincoln (February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) 

Unhappy events abroad have retaught us two simple truths about the liberty of a democratic people. The first truth is that the liberty of a democracy is not safe if the people tolerate the growth of private power to a point where it becomes stronger than their democratic State itself. That, in its essence, is fascism — ownership of government by an individual, by a group or by any other controlling private power. The second truth is that the liberty of a democracy is not safe if its business system does not provide employment and produce and distribute goods in such a way as to sustain an acceptable standard of living. Both lessons hit home. Among us today a concentration of private power without equal in history is growing.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt -
Simple Truth - message to Congress, April 29, 1936

 

One's philosophy is not best expressed in words; it is expressed in the choices one makes... and the choices we make are ultimately our responsibility.

Eleanor Roosevelt (October 11, 1884 – November 7, 1962)

Only a cheap politician, greedy for political gain, would try to single out one individual for blame. The fault lies not with the individual but with the system, and that system is Richard Nixon.  

Pat Paulsen (July 6, 1927 – April 24, 1997)

Being President doesn’t change who you are –            it reveals who you are.  

Michelle Obama (January 17, 1964 - )

When I listen to the testimony, when I read the tweets, when I watch the physical behavior of those who are purported to be our civic leaders, our representatives to Washington, I am saddened, disappointed, and at times, repulsed by what I see. I cannot fathom the bullying, the despicable language, the inability to tell the truth. It's sad, tragic, disheartening, and disgusting. We have no leaders, only schoolyard bullies dragging everyone in this nation down to their level. 

I used to think we deserve better than that. Now I am not so sure. Have we elected the government we truly deserve? 

I have no idea how to answer the question what do you think of the impeachment process? other than to say, "Open testimony is the only way to go. Get it out on the airwaves." Beyond that, no one has any control over the circus train wreck. 

For lack of any sort of role model these days, I must turn to one of my personal heroes, a lady whose soft hand I once shook when I was a child, a woman who talked to us kids in a way that made us proud to be American and hopeful that any one of us could be the next great leader of this country. Now, more than ever, we should strive to emulate Eleanor Roosevelt's grace, understanding, intellect, kindness and core inner strength. Most of all, we should practice what she preached:

Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events;  small minds discuss people.

That's more than just the Wifely Person's Tip o'the Week, it's a desperate cry for civility in all things.