Making America Great

If you want to make America great, the greatness has to come from inside each and every one of us. Each of us has a responsibility to do things that strengthens our country.

First, we have to vote in the right people, people who have the character, the integrity, the capability to understand how the government can pull together in times of crises. You don’t want an ignoramus; you don’t want somebody just to throw a wrecking ball; you don’t want somebody who lies to you rather than tell you what needs to be done. We all have to consciously make an effort to choose someone with experience and a Presidential temperament. We have a responsibility to get informed. I get it that we make mistakes and that’s okay. But what’s not okay is not admitting that we made a mistake and continuing to double down.

Politics should not be about entertainment; those rallies should not be about chants and cheers. Running a country is serious business.

Greatness is each of us being informed and choosing someone who has the intellect to lead the country, who has the integrity to tell it like it is, who can own up to his mistakes and then quickly pivot to what should be done. Someone who will listen to experts. Someone who places country before himself.

Second, we need to find within ourselves discipline to do the hard stuff. There was a study, years ago, where researchers offered young children a treat and told them, “If you don’t eat the treat and it is still there when we come back, you can get another treat.” (Something like that.) The researchers filmed the children trying to refrain from eating the treat, using various tactics. The videos were kind of funny but the really interesting and pertinent thing is that those who were successful in refraining from gobbling that treat turned out to be more successful in life. They went on to finish high school, maybe even go to college, and ending up with a good job.

So, today’s hard stuff is complying with social distancing and staying home. China did it; South Korea did it; Singapore did it. And yet, we can’t do it. There are some who still want to defy orders and others who talk about their freedom to do what they want. We got to be better than that. We got to find that inner core of discipline. If the Chinese can do it, why can’t we?

Help make America great again by doing the stuff that needs to be done.