“Honestly, I previously assumed that basic characteristics like honesty and decency, compassion, intelligence, emotional stability and respect for democracy would be high on everyone’s list”
It’s high on my list as was on the founder’s list - can’t believe anyone would make a rational choice disregarding them. If enough people don’t care about these virtues, our society is in trouble through its own fault.
I find it hard to believe polls reporting of a very close race between a serious NORMAL candidate and an indicted lifelong career criminal and fraud untethered to reality and his fast talking partner that admits he lies to gain attention.
It really shouldn't be close at all, there is no choice for reasonable people. An articulate, intelligent, conscientious, energetic, successful person with a vision for moving America forward in excellent ways vs. a convicted felon who instigated a lethal insurrection against the country/Constitution he took an oath to protect as well as defying the espionage act with the theft of top secret documents and who has nothing to offer America except cozying up to dictators, advancement of white supremacy, division and tax cuts for the very wealthy.
During Democrats, lower and middle class increase standard of living. During Republicans, billionaires become richer and lower and middle class Americans needs are ignored. That's a fact.
Imagine wearing these kinds of shirts in front of your MAGA neighbor! 👇 🤣
I have 3 T-shirts: "Kamala -- removes stubborn orange stains": "Kamala, or if that's too difficult to pronounce just say 'Madam President'"; and "Prosecutor or Criminal" (check one box). I think it's too late to order "I am the Enemy Within" -- wish I could get that one. I'm 71 years old. It has been a wonderful thing to have all of the young people who pass by give me a BIG smile and a thumbs up! I didn't expect that. (A few older white males glare at me. But that's OK.)
I, too, am 71. At our age we have seen good and not-so-good politicians. But, we have never seen anything like this. It’s like we are living in Brave New World”—you must believe what we tell you, even if your experience is different. To the orange villain’s followers, they suspend disbelief, common sense, and basic free will to stoke their perception of a tough guy who will give them license to be d**ks. I hope they have enjoyed their hour in the sun…it is time to go back under their rocks. Let us reestablish basic decency with a new coalition government. Now, we need to do something about Elon Musk— an illegal immigrant who does not have society’s best interest at heart. I worked for Koch Industries and can attest all the oligarchs care about is cash and power.
"it is time [for them] to go back under their rocks." (Please, God!) Add "1984" and "The Manchurian Candidate" to powerful books trying to warn Americans about what, exactly, fascism is, and how quickly it can destroy a democracy. Apparently the muskrat was an illegal immigrant at one time, but not now; and yes, he is out to destroy our country. He is truly evil.
It’s part of justifying their beliefs and actions to deny them to people they oppose. IOW, they don’t accept that their candidate is corrupt or deficient. They are told that those are traits of the VP and she fakes it. The GOP plays the “this is a republic” card to say we are not a democracy. While it is true we are not a direct democracy, the GOP ignores the fact that a republic is a representative democracy. It knows its goals are not supported by a majority.
Before becoming Speaker, Mike Johnson described democracy as “2 wolves and a lamb decide it what’s for dinner” and added you don’t want that. He doesn’t own that phrase. I saw it in social media comments about the time Roe was struck down.
It is sometimes attributed to Ben Franklin & may be a corrupted version of BF quote more appropriate for maga movement: “There is Truth in the Old Saying, That if you make yourself a Sheep, the Wolves will eat you.”
My “leadership qualities that matter most”…[include] “honesty and decency, compassion, intelligence, emotional stability and respect for democracy” [and the rule of law. I do not insist that a leader always agree with me on policy matters.]
I’d add that mental health and emotional stability is imperative.
1) Empathy. The ability for a politician not only to say they understand the struggles of others but to truly care and to truly be committed to doing something meaningful to address them.
2) Humility. The ability to learn from one's own mistakes and flaws, grow and evolve, including changing or modifying one's political positions.
3) Emotional intelligence. The ability to think critically, weigh all angles and aspects of complicated topics, and stay grounded, focused and level-headed amid high-pressure, stressful situations.
4) Integrity. Respect for the democratic process, democratic institutions and the interests and rights of voters. Never allow the political pressure to sway and influence voters cross the line into misleading and deceiving them.
5) Strength of purpose. To stay true to your core values even when it's not politically convenient and to fight relentlessly for what you believe in, with an ability and desire to shape public opinion and not just to follow or respond to it.
People are not following Trump for any of his leadership qualities - he has none that are not from the tyrant/dictator mold. people follow him because he speaks their language about what a raw deal they got - for whatever reason. And he gives them the bogeymen to blame their woes on - immigrants, uppity women, every marginalized element of society - everyone but straight white people.
What’s interesting is that he proposes very few solutions. One is the wholesale deportation of millions of immigrants. and Yeah, the aggrieved like that - with zero attention to how it would actually work or any of the consequences.
Tfg has never considered consequences for anything he does. The first law of physics: Every action has an equal and opposite reaction. He has no idea of how to actually accomplish anything.
I submit Harry Truman as a president who exhibited the qualities which you mention. So humble as to offer the office to Ike as a Democrat with himself taking 2nd place. Able to successfully lead upon FDR's death even tho had been kept in the dark . Compassion for the world's misery by instituting the Marshall Plan. Although helped to power by him, would not participate in Pentergast illegalities. Desegregation of the armed services even tho of southern mind. Common man, common sense.Great put down of upper crust pretentious life with his talk about being served dinner alone in the White House. His Farewell Address was excellent. Yet, he left office with a 22% approval with few to even see him & Bess off at the train station. Not invited back till JFK where he again played piano. Only thing that ever really got to him was criticism of Margaret whereupon he would write scathing letters, then never send them. A true leader of men during WW I, a revered leader of our country, now considered the 6th greatest president, even ahead of Tom Jefferson!!
To my previous post I add. What about Elon Musk? Isn’t he successful because of hard work? Yes but only up to a point. He like Trump has taken a sometimes illegal path to gain an outcome a legal path would have been more difficult to follow. Those who have followed his career closely know this about him. Oligarchs after gaining enough power to be able to manipulate circumstances to favor them, do so. His support for Trump is an example. Musk cannot become President so he is buying someone he knows he can buy and hopes will be President again. The millions he is spending is pocket change by comparison to the remainder of his wealth.
Agree about Mudsk. Obviously once in possession of a brilliant mind now a misfit launching 20 or 30 satellites at a time! Oh yes to help communication but he shut down those over Ukraine during one of Russias advances!!! What is his real motive for sending SO many into the atmosphere?
Yes, Musk has said he would be a great president but knows as you say he cannot. It’s 2fer. Leveraging power without the accountability of the office.
By the way, add to his path of success like trump coming from a wealthy family & receiving a sizable inheritance with an ability to obtain a lot of public funding.
Musk's huge financial investment in trump's campaign shows that he supports fascism. Fuck him. This is how he thanks America, who provided the environment for him to become fabulously wealthy? Self promoting blowhard racist. His companies benefit from hype more than substance. His cars are shitty, his Boring Company's Las Vegas project is behind schedule and way short of his promise, and he continues to receive fat Federal contracts. The only thing about him that is undisputed is he is the World's Richest Asshole
Until they get on the wrong side of drumph. Look at his idol putin and the magnitsky act and what happens to those oligarchs that get out of line. And some don't even get out of line the just get to be examples.
The Trump era has exposed the troubling truth that for a large percentage of American citizens the absence of character and core values in a President is forgivable. For these millions of citizens celebrity, wealth and charm are of greater importance. The formula behind activating this aberration is simple and ancient: convince someone that they are losing their identity and they will grasp at whatever most quickly restores their sense of self-importance. Most susceptible to this manipulation are those in whom character strengths are undeveloped.
The Values in Action (VIA) framework proposes that character strengths exist within 6 broad virtue domains: Wisdom, Justice, Courage, Temperance, Humanity, and Transcendence. A virtue is “an habitual and firm disposition to do the good. It allows the person not only to perform good acts, but to give the best of her or himself.”
Steven, I would say that Trump followers mistakenly believe him to be virtuous, which cements their devotion to him. What they must ignore in order to maintain this devotion is that by definition, good acts benefit everyone and everything.
I’m with you, Steven. To me, character in a candidate is everything. I don’t have to agree with every policy position, but a person who leads from the core values of honesty, decency and compassion will get my vote every time. I’ve formed a theory about why people follow Trump: like the class bully who creates an aura of being “cool,” he seduces powerless people by letting them into his circle of hate and grievance. They’re blind to the fact that he doesn’t care about them at all, but is merely using them to prop himself up. The price of admission to his club is hating the people he hates and not questioning his primacy.
This is small beans in the scheme of things, but many moons ago, I was the chair of a parent-staff school committee that was responsible for allocating funds from the state to meet criteria for student success. During my tenure, not only did I (and many others) have to deal with a rogue principal (who lasted a brief but traumatic 18 months), but also a huge state budget crisis (which resulted in a recall election of the governor). There were lots of "solutions" bandied about, lots of name calling, lots of handwringing, and lots of rumors. Folks came out of the woodwork who had never shown any interest whatsoever in school governance or funding.
What I learned about leadership during this time is, which I have tried to carry with me through other volunteer positions and in my own small business:
- People want to be heard, so give them a chance to speak but don't let them run roughshod over others, and don't run roughshod over them.
- Patience is a virtue.
- Organized thoughts, calmly and well presented, make a stronger impression than hyperbole, conjecture, and falsehoods, even when it seems that yelling and being angry may be working.
- A good leader represents the whole, not just a single entity, in an organization.
- A poor leader is out for him/herself, either to keep their current position of to move up the food chain.
- Differing opinions help to strengthen an organization by allowing stakeholders to work together for solutions. Encourage difference, but work toward consensus.
Such miserable lives some people must lead to consider her laugh, her smile, her upbeat demeanor as negative characteristics. Totally agree with you, that smile bodes well for what America will do this November 5.
Vision, dedication to democracy and service, thoughtfulness, intelligence, compassion and love, emotional and mental stability, optimism, hope, joy...these are not alien attributes to most Americans in their own lives and friendships. It is as puzzlement why so many trump supporters don't demand them in a leader. I feel as if we are watching people, trump supporters, who have been put under an evil spell and abandoned all the basic human values most of us learned at home and school and work. How do we bring these people back into the democratic fold? If anyone can start that healing process it is Harris and Walz. They will need to be relentless in getting their message out once they are in office. (How did Germany recover? There must be some pathways from which to learn.)
All those traits you’ve mentioned, Steven, are certainly relevant to this voter. And, I would consider the capacity to choose the wisest and most experienced individuals to head and help run the various departments that make up this government. It certainly is not one person who runs things, but a pool of talent devoted to service. I’d like to see a commitment to the selfless common good in all those who choose this path.
HAVING values would be a good start…..but yes, honesty, compassion for others & common sense would be at the top of my list. And if you’re going to call yourself a Christian, ACTUALLY following what Jesus said was important would be good.
“Honestly, I previously assumed that basic characteristics like honesty and decency, compassion, intelligence, emotional stability and respect for democracy would be high on everyone’s list”
It’s high on my list as was on the founder’s list - can’t believe anyone would make a rational choice disregarding them. If enough people don’t care about these virtues, our society is in trouble through its own fault.
I find it hard to believe polls reporting of a very close race between a serious NORMAL candidate and an indicted lifelong career criminal and fraud untethered to reality and his fast talking partner that admits he lies to gain attention.
It really shouldn't be close at all, there is no choice for reasonable people. An articulate, intelligent, conscientious, energetic, successful person with a vision for moving America forward in excellent ways vs. a convicted felon who instigated a lethal insurrection against the country/Constitution he took an oath to protect as well as defying the espionage act with the theft of top secret documents and who has nothing to offer America except cozying up to dictators, advancement of white supremacy, division and tax cuts for the very wealthy.
During Democrats, lower and middle class increase standard of living. During Republicans, billionaires become richer and lower and middle class Americans needs are ignored. That's a fact.
Imagine wearing these kinds of shirts in front of your MAGA neighbor! 👇 🤣
teespring.com/stores/libtees-2
I have 3 T-shirts: "Kamala -- removes stubborn orange stains": "Kamala, or if that's too difficult to pronounce just say 'Madam President'"; and "Prosecutor or Criminal" (check one box). I think it's too late to order "I am the Enemy Within" -- wish I could get that one. I'm 71 years old. It has been a wonderful thing to have all of the young people who pass by give me a BIG smile and a thumbs up! I didn't expect that. (A few older white males glare at me. But that's OK.)
I, too, am 71. At our age we have seen good and not-so-good politicians. But, we have never seen anything like this. It’s like we are living in Brave New World”—you must believe what we tell you, even if your experience is different. To the orange villain’s followers, they suspend disbelief, common sense, and basic free will to stoke their perception of a tough guy who will give them license to be d**ks. I hope they have enjoyed their hour in the sun…it is time to go back under their rocks. Let us reestablish basic decency with a new coalition government. Now, we need to do something about Elon Musk— an illegal immigrant who does not have society’s best interest at heart. I worked for Koch Industries and can attest all the oligarchs care about is cash and power.
"it is time [for them] to go back under their rocks." (Please, God!) Add "1984" and "The Manchurian Candidate" to powerful books trying to warn Americans about what, exactly, fascism is, and how quickly it can destroy a democracy. Apparently the muskrat was an illegal immigrant at one time, but not now; and yes, he is out to destroy our country. He is truly evil.
The name of that company should be LibberTEES. 😊
Clever!
It’s part of justifying their beliefs and actions to deny them to people they oppose. IOW, they don’t accept that their candidate is corrupt or deficient. They are told that those are traits of the VP and she fakes it. The GOP plays the “this is a republic” card to say we are not a democracy. While it is true we are not a direct democracy, the GOP ignores the fact that a republic is a representative democracy. It knows its goals are not supported by a majority.
Before becoming Speaker, Mike Johnson described democracy as “2 wolves and a lamb decide it what’s for dinner” and added you don’t want that. He doesn’t own that phrase. I saw it in social media comments about the time Roe was struck down.
It is sometimes attributed to Ben Franklin & may be a corrupted version of BF quote more appropriate for maga movement: “There is Truth in the Old Saying, That if you make yourself a Sheep, the Wolves will eat you.”
I like that old saying!
My “leadership qualities that matter most”…[include] “honesty and decency, compassion, intelligence, emotional stability and respect for democracy” [and the rule of law. I do not insist that a leader always agree with me on policy matters.]
I’d add that mental health and emotional stability is imperative.
The qualities I value most:
1) Empathy. The ability for a politician not only to say they understand the struggles of others but to truly care and to truly be committed to doing something meaningful to address them.
2) Humility. The ability to learn from one's own mistakes and flaws, grow and evolve, including changing or modifying one's political positions.
3) Emotional intelligence. The ability to think critically, weigh all angles and aspects of complicated topics, and stay grounded, focused and level-headed amid high-pressure, stressful situations.
4) Integrity. Respect for the democratic process, democratic institutions and the interests and rights of voters. Never allow the political pressure to sway and influence voters cross the line into misleading and deceiving them.
5) Strength of purpose. To stay true to your core values even when it's not politically convenient and to fight relentlessly for what you believe in, with an ability and desire to shape public opinion and not just to follow or respond to it.
Good, thoughtful list. Thanks, Craig.
People are not following Trump for any of his leadership qualities - he has none that are not from the tyrant/dictator mold. people follow him because he speaks their language about what a raw deal they got - for whatever reason. And he gives them the bogeymen to blame their woes on - immigrants, uppity women, every marginalized element of society - everyone but straight white people.
What’s interesting is that he proposes very few solutions. One is the wholesale deportation of millions of immigrants. and Yeah, the aggrieved like that - with zero attention to how it would actually work or any of the consequences.
Tfg has never considered consequences for anything he does. The first law of physics: Every action has an equal and opposite reaction. He has no idea of how to actually accomplish anything.
I submit Harry Truman as a president who exhibited the qualities which you mention. So humble as to offer the office to Ike as a Democrat with himself taking 2nd place. Able to successfully lead upon FDR's death even tho had been kept in the dark . Compassion for the world's misery by instituting the Marshall Plan. Although helped to power by him, would not participate in Pentergast illegalities. Desegregation of the armed services even tho of southern mind. Common man, common sense.Great put down of upper crust pretentious life with his talk about being served dinner alone in the White House. His Farewell Address was excellent. Yet, he left office with a 22% approval with few to even see him & Bess off at the train station. Not invited back till JFK where he again played piano. Only thing that ever really got to him was criticism of Margaret whereupon he would write scathing letters, then never send them. A true leader of men during WW I, a revered leader of our country, now considered the 6th greatest president, even ahead of Tom Jefferson!!
Good reminder. Thanks, Rita.
To my previous post I add. What about Elon Musk? Isn’t he successful because of hard work? Yes but only up to a point. He like Trump has taken a sometimes illegal path to gain an outcome a legal path would have been more difficult to follow. Those who have followed his career closely know this about him. Oligarchs after gaining enough power to be able to manipulate circumstances to favor them, do so. His support for Trump is an example. Musk cannot become President so he is buying someone he knows he can buy and hopes will be President again. The millions he is spending is pocket change by comparison to the remainder of his wealth.
Agree about Mudsk. Obviously once in possession of a brilliant mind now a misfit launching 20 or 30 satellites at a time! Oh yes to help communication but he shut down those over Ukraine during one of Russias advances!!! What is his real motive for sending SO many into the atmosphere?
Yes, Musk has said he would be a great president but knows as you say he cannot. It’s 2fer. Leveraging power without the accountability of the office.
By the way, add to his path of success like trump coming from a wealthy family & receiving a sizable inheritance with an ability to obtain a lot of public funding.
Musk's huge financial investment in trump's campaign shows that he supports fascism. Fuck him. This is how he thanks America, who provided the environment for him to become fabulously wealthy? Self promoting blowhard racist. His companies benefit from hype more than substance. His cars are shitty, his Boring Company's Las Vegas project is behind schedule and way short of his promise, and he continues to receive fat Federal contracts. The only thing about him that is undisputed is he is the World's Richest Asshole
Until they get on the wrong side of drumph. Look at his idol putin and the magnitsky act and what happens to those oligarchs that get out of line. And some don't even get out of line the just get to be examples.
The Trump era has exposed the troubling truth that for a large percentage of American citizens the absence of character and core values in a President is forgivable. For these millions of citizens celebrity, wealth and charm are of greater importance. The formula behind activating this aberration is simple and ancient: convince someone that they are losing their identity and they will grasp at whatever most quickly restores their sense of self-importance. Most susceptible to this manipulation are those in whom character strengths are undeveloped.
The Values in Action (VIA) framework proposes that character strengths exist within 6 broad virtue domains: Wisdom, Justice, Courage, Temperance, Humanity, and Transcendence. A virtue is “an habitual and firm disposition to do the good. It allows the person not only to perform good acts, but to give the best of her or himself.”
Steven, I would say that Trump followers mistakenly believe him to be virtuous, which cements their devotion to him. What they must ignore in order to maintain this devotion is that by definition, good acts benefit everyone and everything.
I’m with you, Steven. To me, character in a candidate is everything. I don’t have to agree with every policy position, but a person who leads from the core values of honesty, decency and compassion will get my vote every time. I’ve formed a theory about why people follow Trump: like the class bully who creates an aura of being “cool,” he seduces powerless people by letting them into his circle of hate and grievance. They’re blind to the fact that he doesn’t care about them at all, but is merely using them to prop himself up. The price of admission to his club is hating the people he hates and not questioning his primacy.
This is small beans in the scheme of things, but many moons ago, I was the chair of a parent-staff school committee that was responsible for allocating funds from the state to meet criteria for student success. During my tenure, not only did I (and many others) have to deal with a rogue principal (who lasted a brief but traumatic 18 months), but also a huge state budget crisis (which resulted in a recall election of the governor). There were lots of "solutions" bandied about, lots of name calling, lots of handwringing, and lots of rumors. Folks came out of the woodwork who had never shown any interest whatsoever in school governance or funding.
What I learned about leadership during this time is, which I have tried to carry with me through other volunteer positions and in my own small business:
- People want to be heard, so give them a chance to speak but don't let them run roughshod over others, and don't run roughshod over them.
- Patience is a virtue.
- Organized thoughts, calmly and well presented, make a stronger impression than hyperbole, conjecture, and falsehoods, even when it seems that yelling and being angry may be working.
- A good leader represents the whole, not just a single entity, in an organization.
- A poor leader is out for him/herself, either to keep their current position of to move up the food chain.
- Differing opinions help to strengthen an organization by allowing stakeholders to work together for solutions. Encourage difference, but work toward consensus.
- Be kind. Plain and simple, be kind.
A fine example of good and helpful leadership. Thanks!
Integrity. Compassion. Curiosity.
Optimism. Definitely honesty, intelligence. Look at her smile! That photo makes me smile!
Such miserable lives some people must lead to consider her laugh, her smile, her upbeat demeanor as negative characteristics. Totally agree with you, that smile bodes well for what America will do this November 5.
I choose an open mind and I am falling in love with our future president.
Honesty
Vision, dedication to democracy and service, thoughtfulness, intelligence, compassion and love, emotional and mental stability, optimism, hope, joy...these are not alien attributes to most Americans in their own lives and friendships. It is as puzzlement why so many trump supporters don't demand them in a leader. I feel as if we are watching people, trump supporters, who have been put under an evil spell and abandoned all the basic human values most of us learned at home and school and work. How do we bring these people back into the democratic fold? If anyone can start that healing process it is Harris and Walz. They will need to be relentless in getting their message out once they are in office. (How did Germany recover? There must be some pathways from which to learn.)
All those traits you’ve mentioned, Steven, are certainly relevant to this voter. And, I would consider the capacity to choose the wisest and most experienced individuals to head and help run the various departments that make up this government. It certainly is not one person who runs things, but a pool of talent devoted to service. I’d like to see a commitment to the selfless common good in all those who choose this path.
HAVING values would be a good start…..but yes, honesty, compassion for others & common sense would be at the top of my list. And if you’re going to call yourself a Christian, ACTUALLY following what Jesus said was important would be good.
In the Air Force we cherished 3 core values:
Integrity First… without it, especially in a life and death business, everything falls apart.
Service Before Self… it is about the Constitution and those who you lead. It is never about you.
Excellence is All We Do… demand the best from yourself and your team.
No one has perfected this… but striving for these goals every day is a must.