Decency, honour, reason, and most of all truth.
I remember Jimmy Carter and Rosalynn Carter. In 1980 when I was a young British soldier, the world looked to the USA for leadership, not simply the leadership established by force of arms, but the leadership of decency and honour. The sort of leadership that included a duty to those less fortunate. The Carters were prime examples of that kind of leadership and for four years genuinely good people led the free world. Sadly, the snake pit of international politics stirs dilemmas that are always unsolvable. These included Israel, Palestine, Iran, Iraq and of course the Soviet Union. These nations should serve as a reminder of how little has changed in international politics since that time.
What has changed is there are very few Carters left. The Obamas, as decent people, briefly placed a finger in the dyke, but this only briefly held back the flood. Where the USA goes, Europe soon follows and in the past forty years I have watched politics become a marketing exercise founded on lies. The purpose of party politics has moved from obtaining office to improve the welfare of a nation, to simply obtaining and holding power.
Ideology is unimportant, the modern process of election is founded on obtaining enough money and telling enough convincing lies to obtain votes. Donald Trump said he would drain the swamp and to give credit where it is due, he has done exactly that. I'm sure he didn't plan to be found wriggling at the bottom when he made that promise, but he has exposed the political system in the USA as no longer fit for service. Anyone observing the machinations of the past nine years who lives outside the USA, can be forgiven for thinking that Congress has lost all sense of reason. It seems that rich politicians do not go to prison, no matter what they do. Once again Trump was right when he said he could 'shoot someone on 5th Avenue and not lose any voters'. Right now that appears to be true.
I never thought I would see a day when party politics in the USA was more important than preventing Russia from conquering Ukraine. In spite of all our failings in Europe and I include our 'lies' I could not imagine a similar situation on this side of the Atlantic. We still remember the 1930's.
'The past is a foreign land a million miles away'. I would like to see virtue creep back into democratic politics. Democracy stands on the edge of a great fall if we cannot change direction and vote for decency, honour, reason, and most of all truth.
Who Dares Shares
Robin Horsfall
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Trump er ingen normal kandidat, så det er ingen grunn til å omtale han som en.
