“NOW IS THE TIME TO
MAKE REAL
THE PROMISE OF
DEMOCRACY”
Thank Goodness It’s Monday doesn’t “do” politics
-- at least not overtly.
However
–
Tomorrow is Election
Day 2012.
And as a matter of principle we will make a last minute attempt to add some wisdom
and understanding to this election’s noisy and noisome process and thereby
inform TGIM readers/leaders in a way which, we hope, will encourage
you to participate tomorrow (if you have not been actively engaged all along).
In addition: Ideally we will also
find some lessons we -- each and all, without regard to political affiliation
-- can take into our everyday world as well.
No stump speeches
here:
In the bundle of items that follow you’ll find nuggets of wisdom, touches of
humor, quotes and anecdotes and perhaps some overlooked history. They’re drawn
from sources inside and outside the political world that I hope we can agree
are “informed.”
So
let’s get going.
 |
| I saw this on a bumper sticker, many elections ago. |
Plato (c.428-347 BCE)
said that.
What
this country needs is more people to inspire others with confidence, and fewer
people to discourage any initiative in the right direction; more to get into
the thick of things, fewer to sit on the sidelines merely finding fault; more
to point out what’s right with the world, and fewer to keep harping on what’s
wrong with it; and more who are interested in lighting candles, and fewer who
blow them out.
Father James Keller
(1900-1997) founder of The Christophers
said that.
Politics
is perhaps the only profession for which no preparation is thought necessary.
Robert Louis
Stevenson (1850-1894) said that.
As
I stand aloof and look
there
is to me something profoundly
affecting
in large masses of
men
following the lead of those who do
not
believe in men.
Walt Whitman (1819-1892)
shared that poetic thought in Leaves of
Grass.
County
judge, chair of a committee, President of the U.S., they are all the same kind
of jobs. It is the business of dealing with people.
Harry S Truman
(1884-1972) 33rd US President said that.
Vote
for the man who promises least; he’ll be the least disappointing.
Financier and
statesman Bernard Baruch (1870-1965) said that.
Politicians
are the same all over. They promise to build a bridge even where there is no river.
Soviet Prime Minister
Nikita Khrushchev (1894-1971) is alleged to have said that.
Never
tell them what you won’t do.
Clergyman/Congressman
Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. (1908-1972) said that.
Be
sincere. Be simple in words, manners, and gestures. Amuse as well as instruct.
If you can make someone laugh, you can make that person think and make that
person like you and believe you.
The so-called Happy
Warrior, statesman Alfred E. Smith (1873-1944) said that.
People
criticize me for harping on the obvious. Perhaps someday I’ll write an article
on “The Importance of the Obvious.” … If all the folks in the United States
would do the few simple things they know they ought to do, perhaps most of our
big problems would take care of themselves.
The taciturn 30th
US President, Calvin “Silent Cal” Coolidge (1872-1933) said that.
Have
you noticed that many people who laugh at kids who believe in Santa Claus are
the same people who believe in campaign promises?
Comedian Joey Adams
(1911-1999) is credited with that observation.
If
voting changed anything, they’d make it illegal.
Graffiti in London,
1979
It’s
useless to hold a person to anything he says while he’s in love, drunk, or
running for office.
Actor/advocate Shirley
MacLaine said that.
I
can imagine a political campaign purged of all the current false assumptions
and false pretenses – a campaign in which, on election day, the voters went to
the polls clearly informed that the choice between them was not between an
angel and a devil, a good man and a bad man, an altruist and a go-getter, but between
two frank go-getters, the one, perhaps excelling at beautiful and nonsensical
words and the other at silent and prehensile deeds.
Commentator and
curmudgeon H. L. Mencken (1880-1956) wrote that.
These
big politicians are so serious about themselves and their parties. This country
has gotten where it is in spite of politics, not by the aid of it.
Humorist Will Rogers
(1879-1935) said that.
There
are men who, by their sympathetic attractions, carry the nations with them and
lead the activity of the human race.
TGIM favorite Ralph Waldo Emerson
(1803-1882) wrote that.
All
voting is a gaming, like checkers or backgammon, with a slight moral tinge to
it.
RWE’s friend and
neighbor Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862) said that.
I
have come to the conclusion that politics are too serious a matter to be left
to the politicians.
French President
Charles De Gaulle (1890-1970) concluded that.
TGIM Takeaway: In a democracy,
every citizen, regardless of his interest in politics, “holds office”; every
one of us is in a position of responsibility; and, in the final analysis, the
kind of government we get depends upon how we fulfill those responsibilities.
We, the people, are the boss, and we will get the kind of political leadership,
be it good or bad, that we demand and deserve.
The
35th US President, John F. Kennedy (1917-1963) gave us that Takeaway
and I share it as a nonpartisan conclusion and will add only:
If you don’t vote,
you’ve got nothing more to say on the subject.
I’m Geoff Steck and I
approve these messages.
I
hope to see your right-minded participation as they tally the votes tomorrow.
Geoff
Steck
Chief Catalyst
Alexander Publishing & Marketing
Chief Catalyst
Alexander Publishing & Marketing
8
Depot Square
Englewood,
NJ 07631
201-569-5373
tgimguy@gmail.com
201-569-5373
tgimguy@gmail.com
