A Classic American Perspective On What to Expect in a Candidate for President of the United States
The Republican primary is about half over and many candidates who once seemed competitive with Mitt Romney have been cast aside.
Four (counting Romney) are still in the game, but two of them (Gingrich and Paul) seem on the ropes, to put it mildly.
Only Santorum remains somewhat viable, thanks to the sizable segment of that party that clearly favors a theocracy to a secular democracy.
Fortunately, he is still a decided long-shot, even among Republicans.
It looks like the 2012 Republican choice to run against President Obama is going to be Romney.
What might a wellness perspective on the choice coming up in November entail? Both Parties want to encourage good health along with apple pie and motherhood, though no doubt with varying policy approaches, but are there quality-of-life-based criteria that could guide our decision between the Republican and the Democratic incumbent? If so, what elements of REAL wellness might come into play? Here are a few possibilities.
All were described in another context by a remarkable American, whose identify I'll reveal at the end of the piece.
He believed and often expressed the view that a candidate for president must: * Believe that honesty in the long run is the best policy.
* Be willing and able to express his honest thoughts.
* Not be mortgaged to his convictions - he or she must be the sole proprietor of what is best for the nation.
* Be willing to tell his honest thoughts.
* Not favor peace upon any terms.
* Be willing to admit that the other party, in its effort to get into office, will sometimes by mistake do right.
* Favor the schoolhouses, newspapers, magazines, art, music and song.
* Be willing to tell voters, You must be better next year than you are this, you must do your best and climb the infinite hill of human progress as long as you live.
* Support a Republic founded upon intelligence and free speech - the latter the gem of the human soul.
* Encourage all citizens to trade in ideas, intellectual liberty and an absolutely honest ballot.
* Favor taxation sufficient to pay pensions to widows, orphans and wounded soldiers.
* Stand firm that ours is a nation one and indivisible, not a confederacy bound together with ropes of cloud and chains of mist.
* Desire a land where the law is supreme and the government is so great and so grand that it will command the respect of the civilized world.
* Believe in a country where poverty is upon an exact equality with wealth, so far as controlling the destiny of the Republic is concerned, where the man clothed in rags stands upon an equality with the one wearing purple and where, politically, the hut is upon an equality with the palace.
* Believe that without liberty the Nation is not worth preserving.
* Treat persons in his power with dignity and respect and grovels before no one, for the man that will sneak and crawl in the presence of greatness will trample the weak when he gets them in his power.
* Want to see the flags of health flying in the cheeks of the young.
* Believe in American labor and support a protective shield above that labor.
In summary, the candidate should be for free speech, and so ought you to be, for an honest ballot, and if you are not you ought to be, for the collection of revenue, for honest money and protecting American labor.
Finally, the candidate must have studied and discussed the great questions that affect the prosperity and well-being of the American people.
He should believe in giving to everyone every right he claims for himself.
He should believe in an absolute divorce between church and state.
He should believe that every religion should rest upon its morality, its persuasion, its goodness and its charity - and that love should never appeal to the sword of civil power.
You have surely guessed the name of the orator who set this standard for presidential candidates, but if you have any uncertainty (and for your reading pleasure even if not), consider these closing words from the speech I have drawn upon to create this candidate profile: He should be guided by the glittering Northern Star of principle.
"He should love the old Republic, bounded by the seas, walled by the wide air, domed by heaven's blue and lit with the eternal stars.
I love the Republic; I love it because I love liberty, liberty is my religion and at its altar I worship and will worship.
And those, my friends, are a few highlights of Robert Green Ingersoll's Brooklyn Speech, delivered there in 1880.
I think it provides ample insights into the nature of a REAL wellness perspective on the choice for president in November of this year.
However, it must be depressing beyond belief to moderate Republicans to think of the characters contending for that Party's nomination in the context of Ingersoll's criteria.
In my opinion, citizens who care deeply about their country will always look for these marvelous qualities every time there is an election, not just for president but for every other public office - federal, state and local.
Good luck, America.
Four (counting Romney) are still in the game, but two of them (Gingrich and Paul) seem on the ropes, to put it mildly.
Only Santorum remains somewhat viable, thanks to the sizable segment of that party that clearly favors a theocracy to a secular democracy.
Fortunately, he is still a decided long-shot, even among Republicans.
It looks like the 2012 Republican choice to run against President Obama is going to be Romney.
What might a wellness perspective on the choice coming up in November entail? Both Parties want to encourage good health along with apple pie and motherhood, though no doubt with varying policy approaches, but are there quality-of-life-based criteria that could guide our decision between the Republican and the Democratic incumbent? If so, what elements of REAL wellness might come into play? Here are a few possibilities.
All were described in another context by a remarkable American, whose identify I'll reveal at the end of the piece.
He believed and often expressed the view that a candidate for president must: * Believe that honesty in the long run is the best policy.
* Be willing and able to express his honest thoughts.
* Not be mortgaged to his convictions - he or she must be the sole proprietor of what is best for the nation.
* Be willing to tell his honest thoughts.
* Not favor peace upon any terms.
* Be willing to admit that the other party, in its effort to get into office, will sometimes by mistake do right.
* Favor the schoolhouses, newspapers, magazines, art, music and song.
* Be willing to tell voters, You must be better next year than you are this, you must do your best and climb the infinite hill of human progress as long as you live.
* Support a Republic founded upon intelligence and free speech - the latter the gem of the human soul.
* Encourage all citizens to trade in ideas, intellectual liberty and an absolutely honest ballot.
* Favor taxation sufficient to pay pensions to widows, orphans and wounded soldiers.
* Stand firm that ours is a nation one and indivisible, not a confederacy bound together with ropes of cloud and chains of mist.
* Desire a land where the law is supreme and the government is so great and so grand that it will command the respect of the civilized world.
* Believe in a country where poverty is upon an exact equality with wealth, so far as controlling the destiny of the Republic is concerned, where the man clothed in rags stands upon an equality with the one wearing purple and where, politically, the hut is upon an equality with the palace.
* Believe that without liberty the Nation is not worth preserving.
* Treat persons in his power with dignity and respect and grovels before no one, for the man that will sneak and crawl in the presence of greatness will trample the weak when he gets them in his power.
* Want to see the flags of health flying in the cheeks of the young.
* Believe in American labor and support a protective shield above that labor.
In summary, the candidate should be for free speech, and so ought you to be, for an honest ballot, and if you are not you ought to be, for the collection of revenue, for honest money and protecting American labor.
Finally, the candidate must have studied and discussed the great questions that affect the prosperity and well-being of the American people.
He should believe in giving to everyone every right he claims for himself.
He should believe in an absolute divorce between church and state.
He should believe that every religion should rest upon its morality, its persuasion, its goodness and its charity - and that love should never appeal to the sword of civil power.
You have surely guessed the name of the orator who set this standard for presidential candidates, but if you have any uncertainty (and for your reading pleasure even if not), consider these closing words from the speech I have drawn upon to create this candidate profile: He should be guided by the glittering Northern Star of principle.
"He should love the old Republic, bounded by the seas, walled by the wide air, domed by heaven's blue and lit with the eternal stars.
I love the Republic; I love it because I love liberty, liberty is my religion and at its altar I worship and will worship.
And those, my friends, are a few highlights of Robert Green Ingersoll's Brooklyn Speech, delivered there in 1880.
I think it provides ample insights into the nature of a REAL wellness perspective on the choice for president in November of this year.
However, it must be depressing beyond belief to moderate Republicans to think of the characters contending for that Party's nomination in the context of Ingersoll's criteria.
In my opinion, citizens who care deeply about their country will always look for these marvelous qualities every time there is an election, not just for president but for every other public office - federal, state and local.
Good luck, America.
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