I like Michael Hyatt's take on our political situation.
If there’s one thing that stands out in the ongoing presidential election, it’s the sheer nastiness. As a leader, I wouldn’t hire any of the present candidates for my business. I wouldn’t want to work for any of them either.
Why not? Rampant disrespect.
- Disrespect among the candidates. Candidates set the tone, and the tone is terrible. Arguments about policy and ideas have taken a backseat to the pettiest of personal attacks. And who am I kidding? Policy debates aren’t in the backseat. They’re being dragged from the bumper.
Disrespect among supporters. Following the tone set by candidates, supporters have joined in. They’ve goaded candidates to further extremes of badmouthing and mudslinging, even verbally and physically mistreated fellow voters.
Disrespect for the American people in general. As far as I am concerned, this is the most important. Leadership is service. You can’t lead people you don’t respect. All you can do is boss and railroad.
None of us is served by these tactics. It encourages the worst and deprives us of statesmanship in a time when we need it most.
We can't change our candidates, not from the top down. But we can change ourselves and our responses. We can show the politicians how it's done. Let's lead from the bottom up, showing grace, civility, and respect to those we disagree with.
Not even John Kasich? While I might not vote for him, I appreciate the fact that he's been an adult!
Hmm. That might explain why I haven't heard as much about him. :( Florida is not an open primary state (and I'd rather we not change that), so I've had the luxury of figuring I could ignore the Republican candidates till they sorted things out amongst themselves. Maybe I should have switched parties....
You do have to hand it to them: all these folks giving in to trumptation are at least treating us to a killer reality TV show... That said, perhaps the reality TV show format would have served us well in this primary: vote the worst off the island until there's one left standing.
