Defying Gravity

It has become clear to me that the Governor of NC, Pat McCrory, is not a leader. I've determined this not only by looking at which policies he supports and which ones he doesn't, but also by looking at his actions and how he treats people, myself included. I've compared his actions not only to those on the other side, but to other Republicans. Regardless of anyone's view on the issues and ideas about solutions to the problems we face, most reasonable people can agree that we need leadership who recognizes problems instead of trying to deny and ignore them and can conduct themselves with dignity and grace in the face of criticism. Governor McCrory seems incapable of neither and is a disgrace to our state and a danger to our future.

The sad fact is that NC is not alone in it's lack of leadership. All over the country, there are leaders and people seeking positions in leadership, both Democrat and Republican, who are holding our country back. Yes, that's right. Democrats are guilty of this too. A Democratic candidate for district attorney in Texas recently told a local newspaper that he thinks domestic violence is, "so, so overrated." Even though reasonable people, both Democrat and Republican, consider domestic violence a serious issue, this candidate, Lloyd Oliver, thinks that domestic violence is simply the way some couples enjoy sex and said that domestic violence victims, "maybe learn to box a little better."

Greg Abbot, a Republican in Texas who will be running for Governor of that state, thinks that Ted Nugent is a good person to help represent his campaign. Ted Nugent loves unregulated guns and apparently sex with underage girls and thinks calling women "dirty whores" is a good way to engage in political discussions.

Is this the kind of future we want for this country? Do we want our choices in the voting booth to be limited to picking between reasonable and ridiculous or do we want to have candidates who conduct themselves as leaders and give us choices between a variety of policy positions and solutions? This is what most of the American people want. They want real choices. The majority of the American people aren't hardcore Democrats or hardcore Republicans who vote for someone just because they're on their team. This isn't sports. This is democracy and the decisions we make in choosing the people who represent us have consequences in our lives and in the lives of our fellow citizens.

So what do we do? How to we create a better future? We start with the next generation, that's how. We have to start training a new generation of leaders and we train them properly. It's going to require people who belong to all political parties to do this. The Commission on Youth Voting and Civic Knowledge issued a report in which they looked at the increasing polarization in politics. The Commission concluded that when kids are exposed to issues in politics, we learn to discuss controversial topics with civility, make better use of facts, and share a deeper desire to work together to address public problems. If you want a change you can believe in and hope for a government that can come together to solve the challenges we face, believe in us. Put your hope in us. Invest in us.

We can't just sit around and complain. We have to actually do things to help this country move forward. We have to take action. This is going to require work on the part of Democrats, Republicans, Libertarians, and people from all political parties. Let's all speak out together and promote civic engagement and activism among our young people. Let's let our representatives know that investing in helping our young people participate will help build a better America for all of us. We have to stop tolerating the things that pull us down and promote the things that will lift us up.