I hope you’ll vote today. If you don’t want to go, give me a call: ###-###-####. If you think the lines are too long, I’ll keep you entertained. If you don’t think your vote matters, let’s talk about it.
I voted last week and after so much talk of politics and possibilities for the last two years, I was left a little wanting. I want more than either John McCain or Barack Obama is offering me. But I know how important it is to vote, so I cast my ballot for the candidate who I think is the best listener. Of all the important issues that have been raised in this election: the economy, security, education, energy…why vote for the best listener?
Well, I think the greatest president we’ve ever had is Abe Lincoln (and not just because we share a birthday). Lincoln saved the Union. He freed the slaves. And he did it all while losing a son and living with a crazy wife. He was brilliant, humble, and had a wicked sense of humor. But what made Lincoln truly great was that he could listen. He not only assembled a cabinet of his chief rivals, but he listened to them. His greatest achievement may have been ending slavery, but he didn’t come into the White House planning to abolish it. In fact, if he could have saved the Union, while allowing slavery in the South, he would have done it. But he was open to new ideas. He listened to his heart, his advisors, and his country and eventually issued the Emancipation Proclamation. For that, we remember him as great.
Well, we need our next President to listen too. We’ve got to do more and go further than either candidate is talking about. We need massive investment in education, renewable energy, infrastructure, health care, and foreign aid. We need to make hard choices, shed bad habits , and rethink what it means to be American. I’m not talking about big government, I’m talking about invested citizens. Presidents aren’t usually pioneers. They govern and they follow. We, the people, need to lead. We just need a President who will listen.
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That is a very good way how to choose our candidates. If they have the ability to listen then they will probably knew what and how.