The Presidential Address I'd like to see!

My Fellow Statesmen, and fellow citizens, it is in my care to effectively lead this country out of the many conflicts and consequence that we are currently living with. Yes I said consequences, it is very easy to shrug off responsibility and blame others for our troubles, but that is about to stop. Right now. As you all know; one of the greatest things about our country is that we are rejuvenated with each new election, we are essentially a brand new country that can develop new goals, new focuses with each newly elected leader. And with this new leader, ME, as I have so clearly promised in my campaign and as my track record has shown, plan on following through with my plans. Like, supporting the best of the best philosophic principles that work and discarding those that do not. Those that we wish worked, that we hoped would work, but do not. For example: In the past we have claimed to be a religious nation, well although I understand where that idea and conclusion might have come, I disagree that we need to continue that claim, and for many valid reasons. Here is one: I claim that our highest value is not a God it is the sole individual life of each citizen, it is my duty to protect that sole citizen's right to pursue his own life interests, this means we protect the freedoms of that individual citizen, and we don't sacrifice one for another. Not one! We do not tell our citizen which interest his is to pursue, as long as he does it by not sacrificing another citizen's life or freedom. Not as I am president will we ever sacrifice one life for any other cause, I am sworn to protect the freedoms of our citizens each individual citizen, not the collective agendas of any government of religious organization, or any other social group. For the next question is always; which god, which government, which organization, which society do we sacrifice to another. No longer will we live under an immoral code of ethics, a code that always leads to the destruction and sacrifice of our young minds in the name of a higher purpose. These young minds that will create new values, values we can and will all ultimately benefit from. And that we are all currently are benefiting from right now. For those of you that are afraid I'm speaking about weakening our self defense, you are mistaken. Self defense is a separate discussion. Our free minds have eliminated the need for archaic hand to hand combat years ago. We weaken our defenses when we sacrifice our minds, for we no longer have anything left to defend.

The dark ages of the 20th century are about to end, the first order and only order of business is to bring our greatest natural resource, our citizens out of harms way, out of the grip of what always is the end results of a philosophy of whim, religion . We are engaged in nothing more than a religious war. Because we are claiming to be also religious, we can only engage in religious wars. By the very claim, we have chosen sides, we are involved. I've read the last chapters of the religious books and they all end badly. Very, very badly.

We must get our youth, back to the country where they are free to love, live and create. Back to the country they respect, that they believe is worth defending, that was once actually worthy of that respect and that defense. All we have now is the shadow of some left over, lasting images of worthiness that we, amazingly enough, are still continuing to reap benefit from. But with this election, it is proven to me, that we can see the end of that annuity. It won't take much to revitalize our integrity; it just takes new leadership, a clear focus and absolute follow through. Also, the results of this election, show that it is clear our citizens are fed up with being "over promised and under delivered". And that we are done being led by the nose through our own imaginary fears.

Any leader who attempts to motivate by creating fear and then appealing to those resulting emotions of its people is, by my definition, not at all interested in the best interests of anyone except their own political careers. It's a time tested art, that works right up till the end. The end of that civilization.

I can and will only lead by appealing to your minds, what is left of them, since I know and trust my mind is capable of knowing what decisions serve our purpose, so I can therefore only trust yours does too. Who thinks I'm wrong? Speak now.

A mature leader does not take a poll to make decisions, that would be a follower. Right? A mature leader raises the bar on everyone, all the time, no exceptions. A leader stays focused and never compromises or asks anyone else to compromise. For compromise itself is set up to be a lose-lose proposition. Neither party is happy nor satisfied. A mature leader consults the experts, not the masses. What a good leader does, is offer up an honest trade, a win -win. Not a dishonest threat, Both parties must and know what exactly they are to gain, none see it as a loss. For they can clearly see the gain and are willing to risk. Patrick Henry in his famous "Give me Liberty or give me death" speech made it absolutely clear what was to gain and what was to lose. It was effective.

Of course anytime anyone seeks to gain they must pay a price, but a price that is worth the gain by a rational standard, not emotional one. This is the standard that adults live by. Emotions are important but they can't think for us, they can't reason, they can't see beyond their own immediate needs. Emotional childish needs. The adults have left, but we are returning one by one.

Attention all enemies of freedom: Listen up. We have been attacked. We hear you, we are under new leadership, this means, We no longer are the country you loath, we are withdrawing our troops immediately, so you can fight your religious battles unfettered. But hear this... Because you have declared us your enemy, we believe you! And if anything "war like" happens to us from this point on, we will assume that it was you and take drastic and immediate action. Our free minds have produced weapons that will effectively end your conflicts, the conflicts I now place back into your hands. Attention all countries that host terrorists. You need to manage this, or you will have nothing to manage. I can promise that I will protect each American citizen and their right to life, their liberty and their own personal pursuits. Your lives are yours, to do with what you will, and I will support your decision to live, equally as I support your choice to die. Be it known that if you attack our people on our soil, I will honor and respect your choice to commit suicide, for that is all I can imagine it could be. Why else would anyone knowingly attack a nation as powerful as we? You of course have the option to re-think your position as declaring us your enemy, at anytime. And join us adults in our constant commitment to non-violent problem solving. We will leave you alone, and protect you right to your pursuits. I understand you do not know any better, but consider yourself educated as of today. I offer to any nation who is willing to rise up to the moral challenge of protecting the individual lives of their citizens, instead of something else, as your number one priority. Our genuine support. But if you engage in religious wars, we must leave you to it. For you are also committing suicide one valuable mind at a time.

And that is in your hands.

Be known that I will absolutely support the choice you make. The past is gone, today is a new day. Someone once told me that in a relationship the one that least cares about it is the one that controls it. Not anymore. I'm not looking to control it, I care enough to end it when it becomes manipulated by shear brutality and force.

I don't know everything, no one does. This is why I must disengage with anyone who claims to know everything, your religion does just that, and that is why it is dangerous. Very dangerous!

Therefore I am willing to listen to new ideas, new solutions, but not to old threats. If you think, what I just said is a threat, you are just looking to eliminate all the competition. What I'm offering is a gift, it is a clear warning of what I will do, and when I will do it and why I will do it. It is an education , not a threat, it is a natural consequence, when ones life is it's greatest value as all of ours are. I'm appealing to your mind, not your anger. You must learn the difference if you are to survive. If your mind is gone, you are already dead.

Life is worth living once your mind is free to know it.

Thank you for your continued support.

Maybe in 200 years...

Yeah, maybe in 200 years such an address could be presented by one who is electable to national office. Yes, I said "electable": unfortunately - please forgive my pessimism here - over 50% of Americans maintain distrust for anyone claiming to be an atheist or an agnostic (I believe I can cite this claimed percentage if challenged to do so). This distrust is existent even for some who in quiet moments consider their own selves agnostic. Conservatives would thus have a field day with such an address, painting its speaker as unfit for public office.

That said, I like this proposed address. It meets most of the criteria by which I evaluate one's worldview as representing true open-mindedness, true democracy. Yes, "most of the criteria": as a minor note here, why not extend the promise to "protect the freedoms of that individual citizen" and to [not] "sacrifice one for another" to non-citizens? I'm sure that you, Dan, will agree here that the 1960's-era Soviet citizen deserved, and the current Iraqi citizen deserves, precisely the same accord as our wise candidate here offers his or her fellow Americans.

Ah, but there's another rub: the average American, the same who would deny respect to his next-door-neighbor's [potentially very divergent] philosophical worldvie, will be quick to deny basic human rights to some poor chap on the other side of the planet.

 

You are an idealist, Mr. Barber. But this is not a negative label, Good Sir; indeed, be proud for it: the idealists among us are the ones who bear capacity to lead us to a brighter age.

 

David (770.378.4512)

 

No time like the present!

Thank you for your replay David, to me a leader defines him/her self by what he/she stands for, not by elect ability.

Citizens are defined by the contract in which they ascribe.  US citizens subscribe to the US constitution.  US leaders are only obligated to carry out the terms of that document.  They are under no obligation or should they, to do any thing to or for any citizen of any other contractual agreement.  Only to agree to leave them alone.

How can a leader with an ounce of integrity ask their own citizens to subscribe to ethical behaviors and also reward the unethical (by our own definition) behaviors of leaders and those that support those leaders of other nations.  If we declare something unfit for humans, we can only demonstrate within our own boundaries why.  We must become a role model, not a care taker.   We can not enable the terrible behavior of the terrible leaders of terrible philosophy.  We can only stand against it by not participating in it, at any level.  If they decide they want to participate in the benefits of a free society, then they also need to stand up for it and build it too.  They need to have something to live for.  Instead of constantly living for an  "against".

The greatest thing we can do as a nation is uphold freedom and create an abundancee of values that the whole world can see feel and hear.  They will rise up and learn from us, or we are destined to learn from them... By Brute force.

Dan