Where are the Statesmen?

Last night before I went to bed, a word popped into my mind. That happens often with me, probably because I read a lot. But sometimes, I don’t understand the word or what it has to do with anything concerning me. The word last night was “statesmen,” so I asked Mark what he thought of the word. He didn’t have much to say about it either, especially since he was already almost asleep. I guess it’s an old fashion word, outdated, or no longer relevant.

This morning, the idea became clearer after I read a few quotes about statesmanship. My favorite was a quote by Mikhail Gorbachev who said: “What is the difference between a statesman and a politician? A statesman does what he believes is best for his country, a politician does what best gets him reelected.”

Another good one: James Freeman Clarke — “A politician thinks about the next elections — the statesman thinks about the next generations.”

Henry Kissinger was the Secretary of State under Richard Nixon. He won the Nobel Peace Prize (back when people had to actually EARN it) and was so well respected that many following Presidents continued to seek his opinion. Kissinger said: “The statesman’s duty is to bridge the gap between experience and vision.” He later said, “The task of statesmen is to resolve complexity, not to contemplate it.” Obviously, the Obama Healthcare package was written by politicians, not statesmen. In fact, one would be hard pressed to identify many statesmen in our current government. Obama claimed he had a vision, but no experience to speak of. Maybe if he had surrounded himself with statesmen, his visions would have proved productive.

It does seem that our government is run by slick politicians who are only concerned with their jobs, rather than concerned with the responsibility of guiding and protecting this great nation in such a way that it remains a great nation. But you know what? It’s our fault. We voted them in. When someone comes up and bucks against the system in a non-conventional way – we run them out of town. Look at what happened to Sarah Palin. I don’t know a great deal about her, but what I heard coming from her mouth sounded more like a statesmen than a politician. Have we really grown so accustomed to Slick Willy’s running for office that we accept it as some sort of norm? When we see a down-to-earth candidate who stands for family values, the Constitution, and civil liberties –can we do nothing more than make fun of them for not fitting in with the smooth talking crowd? Shame on us all.

I pray that more and more average, hard-working, proud American’s will wake up and begin voting with their brain and their heart! We need to replace every politician in office with a statesman! The only way that can happen is for good men and women to rise up and run for office, and the American public to take a few minutes to think before casting their vote. Remember, not voting is still voting. If you didn’t vote in the last few elections, you still voted these clowns in! Let’s all take responsibility to learn the issues, stop listening to the media and get this nation back on track!

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