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A bumper sticker reads, “Don’t vote for anybody, it only encourages them.”  While that bumper sticker may have a catchy ring, it is totally inappropriate as a philosophy of responsible citizenship.  What if everybody followed that admonition and didn’t vote?  To be sure we would have much more chaos than we do now.  Eventually, we might even lose the privilege of voting itself, it has happened you know.

Responsible citizenship does just what it says, it demands that we accept responsibility for the privilege of being citizens.  As responsible citizens, we should be familiar with the issues of societal concern.  We should study the pros and cons, be realistic about media advertisements, understand the records and positions of political candidates, keep  the good of the whole foremost and vote for the candidates with the best solutions.

One of my favorite movies is the American President.  It’s a delightful romance between a widowed president and a lobbyist for an energy bill.  Because of the president’s link with the lobbyist, an opposing presidential candidate has been blasting the president’s reputation.  The president, to his credit, has not responded to the attacks on his character, even though his staff encouraged him to do so.  Finally, the president does respond in a powerful speech to the press.  Among other things, he says to the opposing candidate. “These are serious times, Bob, and they demand serious answers.  Your fifteen minutes are up.  My name is Andrew Shepherd and I am the President.”

The main point President Shepherd made in the movie was that “We are living in serious times that demand serious answers.”  Can anyone reading this article not see the truth of that statement for our own times in the United States and the world?

It is difficult not to see that our nation, so sorely divided, needs leadership that can bring healing and unity.  And there is a whole hosts of other issue that can benefit from that same kind of leadership.  I’m talking about a leadership that is competent, straight foreword, humble, willing to listen and work with others and is acquainted with a power bigger than we can ever fully comprehend. 

The election before us really shouldn’t be an issue of red versus blue or blue versus red.  We’ve seen enough of that and how it keeps Americans from cooperating and working together.  Simply put, this election is about the “red, white and blue,” and what is best for all Americans.