September 24, 2008

I imagine that lots of people around the world are talking about the U.S. presidential campaign.

U.S. choices and actions affect the entire world. All you have to do is look at our financial mess and what it’s doing elsewhere. Shame on us.

I want a smart president and vice president. I want wise leaders with diverse life experience and practical on-the-ground experience.
I don’t want someone just like me. I don’t have the wisdom or experience to be president or vice president!
An article in the September 29 issue ofNewsweekreally resonated with me: “Ask yourself? how has ‘elitism’ become a bad word in American politics? There is simply no other walk of life in which extraordinary talent and rigorous training are denigrated. We want elite pilots to fly our planes, elite troops to undertake our most critical missions, elite athletes to represent us in competition…And yet, when it comes time to vest people with even greater responsibilities, we consider it a virtue to shun any and all standards of excellence.”
Thank you, Sam Harris (www.samharris.org), for this important observation.
Hey out there. We’re electing the president and vice president of the United States. These individuals will make critical decisions about the economy, war, peace, education, healthcare, human rights.
The list is endless. The responsibility is enormous. And the wisdom and experience better be top of the line.
I don’t want someone like me. I don’t want a friendly face, let’s-drink-a-beer-or-chat- together person. I’m looking for the elite of the elite. Someone smarter than me. Someone with more experience than me.

Filed under: Social Commentary

About Simone Joyaux

A consultant specializing in fund development, strategic planning, and board development, Simone P. Joyaux works with all types and sizes of nonprofits, speaks at conferences worldwide, and teaches in the graduate program for philanthropy at Saint Mary’s University, MN. Her books, Keep Your Donors and Strategic Fund Development, are standards in the field.

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