“We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win, and the others, too.”
President John F. Kennedy
September 12, 1962 - Rice University in Houston, Texas
In his monumental speech calling for action, President Kennedy set a high standard for American achievement. After only two years since the first man had ventured into space, President Kennedy directed NASA to put an American on the Moon by the end of the decade. That’s vision. That’s challenging the human spirit to rise up and do incredible things with a single purpose. When Apollo 11 landed, there was no mention that President Kennedy had been a Democrat or that President Nixon was a Republican. The dream was fulfilled by Americans. The plaque resting on the Moon describes the event as “Men from the planet Earth”
Sadly, in the 21st century there is no such unity to be found.
We've become polarized politically, the divide becoming ever wider with an "us versus them" mentality and anyone that engages in bipartisan tones is labeled as weak or an INO (In Name Only). The November midterm election campaigns continue with seemingly no platform by either side, no positions, no new ideas. Neither side is asking for your vote but rather more interested in pleading for you to not vote for their opponent. I find little comfort in a candidate assuring me that they will screw me less than their opponent intends to. Either way, I’m getting screwed, not inspired.
And yes, I desperately want to be inspired rather than resigned. I want a candidate to escalate the debate; to challenge themselves and their opponents to vigorously explore all options to address our nation’s ills with new ideas. Civil, thoughtful and respectful debate and to engage in political discussion, not play politics. The status quo has long become unacceptable and the party options of “no” versus “can’t” has worn thin.
I blame the party leadership of both sides of the aisle and the purging of the moderates. I blame the national media now consisting exclusively of commentators, encouraging the frenzy with partisan content and viewers who wait until they see an (R) or (D) beside a person's name before agreeing or disagreeing. It's no longer the message, it's the messenger. I also blame us, the citizens for not being more active in shaping a political discussion and leaving it up to elected officials. We need to become more involved and remind ourselves that legislators are our voices, that we can direct the course of the nation to the most noble of pursuits rather than encourage the next news soundbyte. The best hope for our nation lies not in the failure of opposition but in the success of our endeavors.
Mundane or mediocrity. Those seem to be our choices.
“The best of our energies and skills” claimed President Kennedy.
When did that become too much to ask for?
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