This year we will see a great economy booster in action – political campaign advertisements and other associated paraphernalia. That will constitute millions of dollars in seasonal cash flow. Every penny of this cash will be directed to activities related to showing which candidate is the most worthy, or unworthy, of deserving your vote.
In the political arena worthiness is defined in categories such as party of choice, personal wealth, taxes paid, governance experience, gender, race, faith, policies executed, policies promised, agenda, ability to create jobs, and; well the list is probably endless. The basic idea is to pick a subject and ensure that you are on the popular (not necessarily best) side of the argument. Also, since we are in the primaries, the further you are from the center of opinion, the more likely you are to stand out and therefore the better off you are.
I never did figure out that extreme thing.
But is this the optimum process that you would follow to pick a real leader? The Apostle Paul passed on some advice about picking leaders when he wrote to his friend and protégé Timothy concerning leaders within the early Christian society (the church at the time of Paul’s writing). Look at some of the phrases Paul used in listing the traits of a good leader: sincere, above reproach, respectable, not violent but gentle, hospitable, not quarrelsome, not pursuing dishonest gain, have a good reputation with outsiders, able to teach, not a lover of money, must manage his own family well.
Although these traits seem unconventional as leadership qualities today, they do have a certain merit to them. I think they actually describe a statesman. Statesman was a term once honored and one that I think the current political system has pretty much thrown on the junk heap of history (so much so that it does not even show up as having any synonyms on my word processing software). However, I recall that when there were statesmen around, things got done in Washington and the nation benefited from those things. Sadly, it seems that those days are long gone.
So as you get inundated by campaign ads over the coming months ask yourself these questions. What are the qualities that I want in my next political leader? Are these qualities being discussed in the ads that I see? If not, where are these qualities being discussed?
Then go to where those qualities are discussed, and choose based upon the right stuff. Be a good citizen as the Apostle Paul directed.