Bonnie Larson Staiger

Gentle Reader: We, the people of the United States of America, have an ancestral longing for selfless and competent leadership. Those who carved this country out of the failures they left elsewhere intended that it be so. Here we are today with what has evolved from the freedoms they designed and some that would make them cringe. We have, instead, spawned a culture rampant with selfishness, both entitlement and victim mentalities, hyper-individualism, and hyper-partisanship abounds.

As a result, we have anything but selfless and competent leadership in our nation’s capital and capitol. The near future harkens little improvement in the 2016 election. We asked for and received a wider field of candidates. We asked for and received representation from outside the beltway and those who bring fresh perspectives. Yet, a sweeping, 180-degree view of all the candidates is revealing. Some might be selfless but are clearly incompetent. Others are considered by observers as competent but are anything but selfless. Many in the pool are intent to manipulate whatever they are able to achieve their goals. The end justifies the means.

History going back to ancient Roman emperors is littered with leaders such as these. Many came to power without benefit of free and open elections but many of  those who were elected had serious faults. Today’s dilemma is nothing new as history repeats itself. Through the grooming process of state and local elections, we have encouraged and condoned those who represent less than the most honorable traits.

Political parties have moved their philosophy and platforms to the extreme edges of reason and created litmus tests meant to exclude all candidates except those willing to sign their pledge of fanaticism.  We, the electorate combined with the failures and blatant bias of the media, bear much of the blame. Now, the wished for and wider field representing broader perspectives is scorned by pundits, cynics, and the media. Surely, we deserve this scenario, this pool of candidates and, ultimately, who we elect.