Our National Nightmare

I welcomed President Ford’s declaration and had hoped it would be true. It wasn’t.

I believe most of us strive to be what all of us know to be good--honest, truthful, caring, dependable. Ford did. Fewer of us seem to be driven by other forces. That smaller group grew increasingly influential over the past fifty years. Ford didn’t realize that he had become president during the early part of this transition. His attempt at healing our nation’s festering wounds was met with strident rebukes. The political strife that followed his presidency was not substantially different than what preceded it.

Those long on criticism but short on solutions, burdened with agendas but devoid of vision and obsessed with character assassination but unwilling to debate issues eventually dominated both parties and elected two presidents.

Perhaps the two tragic and recent wars will bookend their time of influence. Our profound problems, like global warming and healthcare, require serious debate and effective solutions. We will be well served when the congress is again dominated by the qualities found in Hubert Humphrey and Barry Goldwater and the presidency by the visionary leadership of the FDRs and JFKs of our society.

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