A scary Halloween evening on the brink of Election 2008, we find it’s not true that Americans have nothing to fear, but fear itself.
American’s are fearful for the scarcest of their natural resources highlighted by the results of Helpmevote08.com. The results show that neither Obama nor McCain are graded better than average for 16 leadership characteristics, and fail worse on their performance potential in 10 important national issues, which brings 3 major fears, or future concerns to the forefront.
- Leadership: Who will lead us, if not these “average” candidates? Are they really qualified to deliver on the change they promise, the performance we demand, deserve, and pay dearly for? Let alone that, can they deliver on the revolutionary change required in Washington to meet the future challenges awaiting this nation? The call is not for mind-numbing incremental change with the challenges ahead, but for real transformational change.
- Ethics: What prevents repeat from the failures in Washington and Wall Street caused by pure corruption, and lack of accountability, where they have made Americans not only fearful of the future, their way of life, their economic security, their potential for future prosperity, for the financial wellbeing of their families, and for whether they will be allowed in a free country to keep what they earn without giving it up to incompetent, inefficient, ineffective bumbling bureaucracy to distribute haphazardly, disincentivizing the rest of the population, creating in them debilitating dependency on government welfare checks stolen from the success of hardworking responsible citizens.
- Service-mindedness: How did democracy get so twisted? Wasn’t it supposed to be “We the people, by the people, for the people…”? It wasn’t supposed to be about powerful elites in Washington being served by the people. It was supposed to be about small government, and “public servant” officials there to serve and empower the people. Government serves the people better with competence, efficiency, effectiveness, ethics, and for limited terms, not to gain power, but to empower as true servant-leaders.
Fear is multiplied when leaderless, absolute power corrupts. However there is one reason for hope that will dissolve those fears: authentic, transformational servant leadership.
Like campaign rhetoric, we can pay lip service to those increasingly popular industry buzzwords, or followers who have not forgotten what they mean, or are not filled with fear can seek, demand, and inspire this brand of leadership, unfortunately now a scarce resource on our national landscape. It may be our only hope.
