The American Presidency - The Ongoing Revolution Within!

Wisdom Comes in All Forms!

Yesterday, right ahead of the Inauguration, Adam Carolla, the morning-radio-talk show host, made one of the most insightful comments about the American psyche that I’ve heard in a long time. He said that Americans are some of the toughest self-critics in the world. We are really hard on ourselves as a nation: we’re demanding of our government; we’re critical of each other; we question our collective values; and, clearly, we can sometimes be very mean to each other. He made this observation with regard to Barack Obama and the incredible excitement generated by his election. Adam said it felt as if our collective self-loathing had been lifted, if only for a moment.

Now, I must confess, over the last several days, I’ve been spending time in the blogosphere reading commentary on some very popular sites and I’ve jumped in on several fairly heated (and ofttimes disagreeable) discussions about how the country has been lead in the past and what’s going to happen now that there’s a new sheriff in town. I have to tell you, some of it is really, really ugly stuff. Don’t go there if you don’t have a thick skin. On the other hand, I’m impressed with the intense thoughtfulness of most of the writers even though some of them utterly infuriate and, more importantly disappoint me. I want to believe that we are, at our core, a good people….

Then it occurred to me that the Founding Fathers INTENDED our political process to be this way. In a sense, the constant revolution that Thomas Jefferson wrote about is alive and well in America today. It’s not a bloody revolution, it’s the battle that Adam Carolla acknowledges (this tendency to navel-gaze). Every four years we literally reinvent our leadership. Sometimes it’s a grand revolution and at other times it’s mundane and at others it’s a knock-down drag-out fight as was this last one. The victors celebrate and rejoice. The vanquished stew in the bitter broth of resentment and plan a new revolution. I find it disturbing, frustrating and strangely invigorating. I suppose it’s one of those things that makes us….well, us.

So here’s what I’ve done to refocus myself on the big picture and help me celebrate the brilliant system the Founding Fathers created: I’ve listed all the Presidents who have held office since I’ve been alive. This helps me put things in perspective. We are one of a few nations in history that passes power from one administration to another without bloodshed. Since I’ve been alive, I’ve voted in 8 presidential elections (haven’t always been on the winning side), and I’ve truly hated some of these men. And yet, our system works. It’s truly magnificent:

Dwight D. Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, James Carter, Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush, William J. Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack H. Obama.

What an amazing list of individuals!