The most common definition of a statesman is a person regarded as a disinterested promoter of the public good. I personally like the definition of a statesman as a person who has a bedrock of principles, a moral compass, and a vision with the ability to build a consensus. Regardless, whether these two definitions are the best two definitions or just someone's idea of what they believe a statesman to be, is secondary to the need of having this job filled immediately.
Why the rush? We can't afford to spend another penny haphazardly because of the dire straits we find ourselves in. The spending has to stop now! Although everybody in Washington knows the facts, they can always find something to be their pet project, get massive support and gain points for their re-election.
A Statesman is someone who cares about the State, not the man! Imagine that every elected official was going out of office at the end of the year. Would we have a rush to fix our out of balance budget by these servants of ours or would there be a stampede to make sure their future is secure. Unfortunately the answer is clear to most of us!
As stated above we need a principled individual with morals and vision who can command by his or her ability and message, the majority of Americans who do NOT want this nation to crumble. Instead we have people who scream for equality. But not the equality our founding fathers sought. They wanted a country where everyone could be what they wanted, in freedom, and created a country where the poorest among us could become as successful as the wealthiest. In essence they raised the lowest to be able to work their way up to be among the highest in the country.
Today we still strive for equality but the idea is to bring down the highest to be among the lowest. HOW IN THE WORLD DOES THAT HELP ANYONE? How did this happen? It appears that over the years and decades the government has been spending a great deal of time re-inventing themselves. The founding fathers didn't plan for the Congress and the Senate to pass laws that they and their staffs were exempted. They didn't envision that those who legislate would become wealthy through their positions, enjoying the ability to use inside information to make small or large fortunes for themselves as well as their friends and family, which was finally ended a few years ago. I don't think anyone in this country believes the Congress and the Senate should have pensions other than Social Security, or medical care other than Medicare unless they pay for it themselves.
Can someone step up who is articulate, educated and caring to begin building a coalition of citizens who realizes that we cannot borrow our way to success? We have a national debt of almost $18 Trillion and growing. The President wants a clean bill without any directives in it to raise the debt limit. Every time this is done an official comes out and says this isn't for new spending it is for the bills that have already been run up by Congress. If that is true, which we know isn't, then this should be the LAST raise, ever, of the debt ceiling!
There is so much we can do as a nation, but it gets harder and harder to do because of the arrogance and malfeasance of a greater percentage of our leaders. We desperately need a statesman, man or woman, who will commit to lead us out of the waste land that we have allowed to be created. But most of all we need this person or persons NOW!
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