Faith and trust.
Have we lost them as a nation?
As an observer reading analyses of the election on November 4, 2014, I wonder if one pundit, the Baltimore Sun’s Dan Rodricks, is right. Has our nation lost its sense of exceptionalism?
Are we fueled by frustration and anger?
We read about missteps and moral transgressions by institutions such as our government, our churches and synagogues, our military, our colleges and institutions and our military—and we wonder. Are we as special as we like to think we are?
Can we trust our government leaders to make reasoned decisions amid pervasive acrimony and fear of compromise?
Do we have faith in our religious leaders to act morally and justly?
Do we view our military leaders as exceptional individuals who create a non-hostile environment for their subordinates?
Do our colleges and universities have the same academic expectations of all of its students, athlete and non-athlete?
Questions are easy. Answers are not.
As an optimist, I believe our nation is going through a tough patch. The recent recession shook our faith in long-respected financial institutions. Partisanship has poisoned not only our nation’s Capitol but state legislatures as well as personal relations.
Civility often seems in short supply. We label and then set up barriers to relationships.
We decide we don’t like someone due to his or her politics.
We always viewed our nation as special and exceptional because we could congeal and coalesce in time of crisis. We could make incredible scientific breakthroughs. We could innovate and create businesses envied by the entire world. We could suffer a calamity and then respond with determination and results.
I feel a malaise in spirt and communication. Our collective community suffers when faith and trust are lacking.
Citing a “10-car pileup of failure and crisis” in the last 12 years, Rodricks wrote, “No wonder a majority of Americans have lost faith in the system and in the big promise of an exceptional society.”
Change is imperative. It must begin in Washington, DC and filter down to every community. It would help if our members of Congress learned to like and respect each other. That sense of camaraderie and kinship used to be the norm.
We need to renew our exceptionalism, our belief we can achieve greatness. Our institutions need to regain our trust and faith.
Fletcher R. Hall says
This piece outlines some very salient observations and thoughts.
American exceptionalism still does exist. This country desparately
needs leaders who have the political will to extoll this exceptionalism
at tome and internationally.
Regarding colleges, Washington College, has been indeed fortunate
to receive a large legacy gift to promote and include
ethics in the college teachings. Ethics is a large component
of leadership. Producing quality leaders must be priority
number one for those small liberal colleges which will
survive in the 21st century.
Fletcher R. Hall
WC class of 1983.
Howard Freedlander says
Fletcher–I agree that leadership is key to restoring our exceptionalism. I wonder, however, if our country can produce a strong, visionary and effective leader who can withstand intense media attention and criticism and rise above pervasive negative political advertising to lead our country to consider and accomplish important milestones.
Howard
Keith Thompson says
Editor,
The author writes…”Change is imperative. It must begin in Washington, DC and filter down to every community. It would help if our members of Congress learned to like and respect each other. That sense of camaraderie and kinship used to be the norm.”
I think the opposite is the case…change has to happen at the local grassroots level and filter from the bottom up rather than from the top down. In my view, what we’re beginning to see is that we’re expecting decision makers in Washington or in Annapolis to make decisions that are better made at the local level. We need to tackle problem solving in our communities by focusing on what our county commissioners or mayors and councils are doing rather than expeecting the president or Congress can solve our problems.