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Once again we pursue our quadrennial hysteria to select a leader for our country. Super Tuesday 2016 has come and gone, the Hawaii Republican caucus has validated the Donald. State Democrats make their desires known two Saturdays from now in what surely will be another affirmation of Ms. Clinton. At this point, it sure looks like a Clinton – Trump battle all the way to November.

This is, of course, barring any dark horse candidate, convention floor battle or divine intervention. Divine intervention might be the better alternative. Anyone who would want the job of president of the United States should be disqualified immediately.

History repeats itself — or rather humans continue to make the same mistakes. Having a wealth of literature that has documented the many screw-ups of our predecessors, isn’t it odd we have not benefited from the vast wisdom available to us? There are numerous examples of societies that have sailed down, if not a path of self-destruction at least self-flagellation. Let’s leave it to the political scientists and sociologists to quibble about the finer points and causes. Let’s concentrate on the good ole United States.

Their supporters proudly voice their unswerving adoration of each of these front runners for the highest elected office of our country. Are you kidding me? How did we arrive at this point and how do we correct it?

Quite simply, we have been duped. Roman emperors used bread and circuses to deceive the population. Keep the masses fed and their eyes on the things you don’t want them to see and you can pretty much run the place without any kind of oversight. We don’t need a coliseum anymore, we have social media and Jersey Shore.

Regardless of the culture and time, those in positions of power (defined as people who can influence events) have designed laws and established cultural kapus, economic policy and the politics of their time to benefit themselves. Rarely has government offered the public access to the process of establishing what is good for the whole.

That’s not to say the public is any more qualified. In our democracy, we have a republican form of government. We elect our representatives who then decide for us what is in our best interests. And look how well that has worked in the past two decades.

Visionaries Vs. Critics

Fifty years ago we barely elected a young, handsome, charismatic and dynamic president. This young New Englander challenged America on numerous fronts. Space, the environment, the economy, international affairs, education and many more. He called it the New Frontier. The Peace Corps was established to aid communities in other countries around the world to better their lives through various projects that educated, improved or even initiated infrastructure and raised health standards. VISTA was the domestic version of the Peace Corps.

That president gave us a vision. He inspired. He gave the nation a purpose and left a legacy that included a space program that took us to the moon.

Then came those who criticized space exploration as being a waste of money or pie in the sky. What those critics failed to recognize are all the day-to-day things that  exploration of space has touched. Health, medicine, materials science, electronics, computing, software engineering, food preservation, navigation, resource surveillance, communications and astronomy, just to mention a few. There are also fields in pure scientific research that have had to expand their horizons in order to solve problems experienced by NASA, thus increasing our total knowledge. Management techniques had to be developed to coordinate multifaceted programs and projects, many of which are only now being understood and incorporated by industry.

There will always be critics. Where are the visionaries?

The world used to look at the United States as a place where things were done right. If one takes a look at the international press, our image even among our staunchest allies is fading fast. In Europe one looks to Germany’s Angela Merkel for leadership, not Mr. Obama. How is it that in 20 short years we have fallen just as far as the former Soviet Union in its influence?

We are about to embark on choosing one of two empty candidates. Those who would argue for or defend their candidate should take a harder look. This is sort of like a business plan. One of the things I learned in Business 101 was never to fall in love with your own idea. Perhaps one should never fall in love with their candidate.

We have our own growing culture of bread and circuses today. Look at the number of people who demand government solve their problems. The entitled. I would ask them what they have accomplished or contributed to deserve handouts. We also have a growing class of those who feel privileged. The tax evaders, both corporate and individual, and those who even ignore traffic laws.

We are supposed to be an egalitarian society. What happened to “Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country?”

We should be demanding more of our potential leaders other than just listening to the continuing landslide of bombast and pomposity that flows incessantly.

We have some serious problems in the United States and Hawaii. It seems we have been duped by those who would fool us into thinking this is all a beauty pageant. I have yet to hear any of the candidates mention Alexis de Tocqueville. De Tocqueville had a vision of America. Not just the place but its spirit. He also had warnings. But I doubt if Democracy in America is required reading unless you are taking a 200 level or above class in U.S. history. When I went to high school, it was required. But that was 50 years ago.

We have fallen into a trap. The trap is the bread and circuses. We should be demanding more of our potential leaders other than just listening to the continuing landslide of bombast and pomposity that flows incessantly. I’m tired of it. Why aren’t you?

I am reminded of the opening scene of Aaron Sorkin’s Newsroom where Jeff Daniels as Will McAvoy, anchor for a cable news network, is questioned by a young college student as to why America is the greatest country in the world. After some hesitation, he responds that we are no longer the greatest nation. The stunned crowd listens to one of the greatest monologues about our current state of affairs. I would invite all to view it or read it on the internet. His last comments went like this:

“It sure used to be. We stood up for what was right. We fought for moral reasons. We passed laws, struck down laws for moral reasons. We waged wars on poverty, not poor people. We sacrificed, we cared about our neighbors, we put our money where our mouths were and we never beat our chests. We built great big things, made ungodly technological advances, explored the universe, cured diseases, and we cultivated the world’s greatest artists and the world’s greatest economy. We reached for the stars, acted like men, we aspired to intelligence, we didn’t belittle it, it didn’t make us feel inferior.

“We didn’t identify ourselves by who we voted for in the last election and we didn’t scare so easy. We were able to be all these things and do all these things because we were informed, by great men, men who were revered. First step in solving any problem is recognizing there is one. America is not the greatest country in the world anymore. Enough?”

We still have choices in our own actions. I would hate to see our experiment of democracy in the United States come to an end because we didn’t put the effort into what was required. We all need to look deeper and not accept the superficial. That takes effort. As a nation, we all should have been doing our homework long before we got to the point of electing either of the two current front runners.

I am concerned more today for the future of our nation than at any time in our past. Either of these candidates spell a further slide towards a totalitarian state. We are already at a point where we have a government that has moved toward rule via fiat than through debate. We need to wake up and start demanding better candidates. It already may be too late. I sincerely hope not.