Mark Sanborn, author of the Fred Factor, asked an excellent question in his blog on April 28, 2008. He asked, “What kind of Hope?” in reference to the 2008 Presidential election. He starts off the entry by saying, “We hear much about our next president providing America hope…but what kind of hope.” He rightly, in my view, warns against simple “entitlement hope.”
His question and commentary set me to thinking and after a month, I think I’m ready to set some thoughts down. I have some specific hopes for the upcoming election and while no candidate is going to be perfect, I think Senator Barack Obama has the best promise to fulfill them.
– I hope for a President who will embrace government transparency. I want to see policy formulated in the open. Senator Obama is the only major candidate left to sign the Reason’s Foundation’s Oath of Presidential Transparency.
– I hope for a president who will break with the failed bipartisan policy of refusing to hold direct talks to America’s enemies. This hasn’t worked for decades and makes us look fearful and intransigent. Senator Obama has already rejected this policy and is taking heat for it.
– I hope for a president who will emphasize resiliency instead of fear. We can never reduce the chance of terrorism to zero. Rather than promoting fear about the danger, our government should be thinking about how we can go about bouncing back as quickly as possible. This will produce confidence and citizen empowerment in the face of danger. I consider the current climate of “Only the government can protect you and you must give up your privacy” to be a form of statism.
– I hope for a president who will make a real effort to shift us away from petroleum into other forms of energy. As long as oil is a valuable commodity, Wahabbist funding countries like Saudi Arabia will have a disproportionate amount of influence. If we were spending HALF of what we are spending on the Iraq Occupation subsidizing energy efficiency and deploying mostly proven alternative technologies, I believe we would be a long ways towards that goal. A number of good ideas can be found at http://www.nohairshirts.com/chap0.php. This isn’t an issue that any one person can change overnight, but if we had high-level leadership on this issue, we could be changing faster.
– Finally, as readers know, I hope for an end of the Iraq Occupation. I feel very confident that neither McCain nor Clinton will get us there. But based on his public statements AND his willingness to follow Iraq’s lead in talking to Iran and Syria, I think Senator Obama is the most likely person to start the process of ending the occupation.
So that’s what I hope for. What do you hope for?
Filed under: government information, iraq, politics
The best kinds of questions get people thinking, so I am gratified by your thoughtful approach to the one I asked. I hope more Americans do the same as we approach this very important election, and then vote based on who they believe can go beyond simple promises to deliver on that hope.
Hi Mark! Thanks for stopping by. I agree with you that the best kind of questions get people thinking. I also agree that as long as you put careful thought into who you are voting for and can explain why, your decision should be respected.
Please keep up the great work on your blog and other writing activities.
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