By Rev. Lainie Dowell
Reprint: New Media Journal
The Loop Hole Effect --
Whenever a leader has been rightly placed to lead, there is no need for them to have a loop hole inserted in their contract. - Rev. Lainie Dowell
During the first 2008 Presidential Debate with Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) and Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL), Obama said many things that made my eyebrows go up, but the one that has stuck with me is his announcement that he is working to bring about "Google for Government" to place all government dealings on the internet.
Should citizens and noncitizens far and wide be able to access every bit of essential government information without first identifying themselves?
Would an Obama administration, if it should come to that, also have the authority to, likewise, hold back every bit of government information germane to citizens? And, more importantly, has Obama already begun to "partner" with Google to begin developing the software which would make such a project possible and, knowing Obama's character, would he ever consider using that position to force Google to censor and withhold information from their databanks as was done in China?
Moreover, why are we hearing so much now about Obama's ongoing plans to enter the White House with his own already redesigned airplane, national seal, security force (no doubt to include Farrakhan's own Nation of Islam security), and with Obama's criminal friends that we have no guarantee Obama would not immediately pardon soon after taking the oath of Office (e.g., Rezko)?
Loop holes are everywhere. And to listen to Obama tell it, he has no idea how they got there. Watch your step, because he's driving me up a wall and I can't help you! It's just that I love truth too much to see it being pummeled to death daily from out of Obama's mouth while his many blinded followers seem to also be deaf.
Even with the current push by President George W. Bush, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, the United States Congress (i.e., U.S. House and Senate) and others to work together to right the down turn of the Wall Street financial crisis, we are still being inundated with partisanship spin. Is it being led mainly by the media pundits and party spokespersons or by the candidates, themselves? We must ask the question, "Who is really saying what on the campaign trail?"
In other words, are those nasty, detracting, name-calling sentiments that we hear expressed in debates and interviews actually coming from the minds of our leadership or from among the forces of individual politicos who want to make their own party affiliates look great in the eyes of the nation whether they are right or not?
As citizens, how do we get above the din? How do we get beyond the noise? How do we get beyond the fracas and above so many voices in order for us to know whether or not our needs are being taken into consideration in the halls of congress where it counts the most?
As a people, when do we begin to demand that our leaders prepare to respond proactively rather than retroactively to these events that suddenly appear on the horizon which could prove damaging to our livelihood and to our very lives? And, as a nation, when will we hold our elected leadership accountable for putting this nation's interest before those of the selected unions, groups, and entities from the outset of their individual candidacy, especially when we discover beforehand that they have failed to either disclose or to own up to their personal failings which they knew would make them ineligible to lead this nation?
It is past time for candidates to be held to the highest standard that either they come forth with full disclosure or else there will be no such candidacy for them.
America has allowed our government "of the people, by the people, and for the people," to usurp representative government intended "to protect, preserve, and defend" the rights of individuals and, at the same time and on balance, to allow for collective freedoms.
For example, E Pluribus Unam means, "one out of many." And, yet, our nation's motto has been turned on its head by incoming generations to present an entirely different intent, which is to now try to say, many out of one. But that has never been the intent of American democracy.
Leaders lead!
Leaders do not test the wind with a wet finger to ascertain what might be best for those for whom they have been given responsibility. Leaders do not compromise their principles. Leaders listen. Leaders look over the situation at hand and consider the present circumstances within the context of the past, present, and future; assemble together a qualified team; provide the members with the parameters to enable him, as the leader, to be able to make the decision which will help to bring about the best possible solution for the problem, and then allow his team the time and space to do their job.
The present generation has decided the best thing for them is the kind of government which will take any form of accountability off the table. That means no fault would be attributed to them for making any wrong decisions, because no decision will be wrong. Somewhere along the way, they have been taught that everything anybody wants to do is going to be all right, if they, themselves, approve of it. So, in their minds, there is no right and no wrong; and, therefore, they will remain without consequences, as a result of adverse actions.
Almost every part of our society about personal responsibility has been obliterated somewhere along the miles of educational pursuits. To many graduates, the most important product in their hand is a diploma; and, apparently it no longer matters to them about their means to acquire it.
Over time, there has evolved this American myth that the more degrees a person has, the more wisdom that comes with it. But, just collecting manuscripts does not make that collector any smarter or wiser, if they have not been at the forefront of amassing that information which has been studied and written by another before it was generally known.
The information contained in the journals of libraries is taken from the annals of history. And, it is long lasting, because it was shaped from out of many long drawn out nights of testing. It did not come after just one sitting. It came only after the person who had originally found it was diligent enough to test it in times of trials of errors and achievements over time.
However, in these days, we are finding that overnight wonders are the people who have not been tried, tested, and purged in the fires of trial and error. Yet, they have embraced the mistaken belief that they are tried and true. They have developed the mistaken belief that they are ready to lead based on having a diploma which only says they attended class, at least some times during the course. But what will they do when their classes are over and they have closed the door on the learning? Indeed, can we ever close the door on learning?
Learning experiences are what makes the mind engage those matters which demand immediate attention and when there is no time to take out a book to read up on the problem and write a paper about it to be able to sound articulate and learned while standing in front of a crowd that they know is looking to them for solutions.
The Loop Hole Effect
America does not need a leader who simply looks like a President and Commander in Chief when he appears in front of the news cameras. What's more, the news media and politicians need to stop playing with our lives by continuing to prop up ill-prepared people and thrusting them forth into their ideas about what a leader is to be and to do.
The loop hole effect is knowing when to act and what action is best to take for which situation at any given time.
In these times when countless pressing needs converge with the oppressed, there has to be a person who will stand up and take charge of the situation despite what others may think about it because, while consensus might be good for certain events such as where a family might spend their vacation together, in a country with millions of citizens, one moment spent arguing about an outcome can be the difference between the life and death of an entire nation.
So, yes, the buck does stop at the desk of the President, as the late former President Harry S. Truman is quoted saying. And that is still a true statement for today, if this nation is to remain as "one nation under God indivisible." And, the same people who are trying to tie the hands of the current President are the same ones who are unwilling, themselves, to stand corrected by others and who are unable to take matters into hand when it matters the most.
Those people we see in the political arena who are talked into it by others for the purpose of doing the bidding of special interest groups are never going to succeed. All they are doing is taking up valuable space, keeping a seat warm, and operating as a mouthpiece for their real, behind-the-scene actors.
America Needs substance and Stability
We need to continue to have leaders who will shape policy and shake the policymakers who are in place to break this nation up into factions based on their individual ideologies. We have seen this form of political structure used in other nations which has eventually led to their downfall.
Leadership of this nation as a republic which has remained democratic, demands somebody who can navigate a delicate balance on the one hand -- as one that must be walked by the leader as an individual who holds the stability of the masses within that responsibility invested in his leadership -- and, on the other hand, maintain their ability to let individuals under their leadership remain free to live their individual lives as they see fit but still remain within the purview of a moral and just society.
Where there are no morals, any society is doomed to be turned to its own devises and, as a result, weaken the foundational structure of an entire nation. There can be no justice in a society that fails to recognize the justice of a Just God. This is the America I have come to know and have loved for almost 70 years. And that also makes me proud to be able to say so.
Where Are the Elders?
If I had not lived through the pre-integration era, meaning that time when segregation was alive and well when I was born; and, thanks to my elders, I am alive and very well today! If not for my life under segregation and the subsequent inroads in which I was blessed to be able to make a difference back in the day. And, whether anybody knows it or appreciates it, if it were not -- NOT -- for the days of darkies, coons, niggras, and slaves, there would have been no need to struggle to overcome. But, as a people, we overcame; except in the minds of all those who never knew what it was like to have to really struggle for change and personal dignity to live as a human member of society.
We have done that! And, were it not for many years of personal life experiences, I would have nothing by which to compare what is going on today with the way things were yesterday. And, if all those still living Black race mongers on the national scene, such as Rev. Jesse Jackson, Rev. Al Sharpton, Rev. Jeremiah Wright, and their female counterparts who do so, would stop to reflect on how far they have come, then they would stop condoning the false ideology that the Black and brown race are the American underdogs. Pride of self emanates from within the culture of the love of God, neighbor, and then yourself. And they need to stop inviting people to tear down this nation around us on the basis of race and whatever else deprives us of being God-fearing Americans who know how to extend a helping hand. But will fight like hell against anybody who presumes to bite that hand to bring us down.
No more loop holes to excuse personal inadequacies. No more excuses to land totally unprepared in places where nobody is allowed without preparation. No more pretending that race is the issue for personal failure to achieve, even if prepared. Take a look inside and evaluate your ownself.
Americans must first look before they leap. Obama has a degree. He has the attention of masses of people. He has accumulated coffers, perhaps, to die for. He has a family. He has charisma. What he lacks is experience, truth, honesty, sincerity, and plain ole common sense.
The national mindset which has evolved to state that the Office of President can be filled by just anybody who appears on the surface to be articulate rather than to be closely scrutinized and seen to be ambitious for selfish gain, is deadly. And, every elder and truly learned person who has been taught, experientially, to know the difference between right and wrong must stand up and say so in order to correct this grave imbalance.
My oldest daughter, Gail, is a year older than Obama. She asked me a searing question, which was, "If you think people following Obama are brainwashed, then does that mean all the people who follow McCain are also brainwashed?"
We are not deceived. Keep in mind that this is my child who has either personally witnessed or heard about my lifelong struggles as a black woman in America who has come to know no color or boundaries and, as a result, today -- neither does she nor her sibblings.
These are the days that cry out for maturation borne along out of experience, for we have relinquished our duties to our children with the mistaken belief that they were ready for such a grave responsibility and by their mistaken belief that they were grown and capable of taking the helm based on their having the steady hand of an elder at their back to help keep them on course to that kind of success which will be a blessing and benefit so many people beyond themselves.
But, if that elder were to remove their steadying hand from them, then perhaps they would begin to understand what kind of strength it would take for them to place their own hand on this Ship of State and to not run it aground.
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