Making difficult decisions is hard for any person or group. They are particularly challenging in a democracy. However, history has shown that our most outstanding American leaders stood tall yet humbly as they made difficult decisions. George Washington did it, and so did Abraham Lincoln, the first standard-bearer of the Republican Party. Will the lack of humility and rational decision-making sink the current Republican president? Have we forgotten the leadership characteristics that made America great?
Rockets to Mars and artificial intelligence might be astounding, but the biology and emotions of humans have not changed much in 50,000 years. Regardless of how smart we think we are, how rich we feel we are, or how irrelevant we believe the past is, written human history over the last 5,000 years is replete with the recurring themes of the rise and fall of civilizations.
America is currently at a tipping point. We have had bad presidents in the past, but most of the bad ones hid away and did most of their damage by inaction. Today, we are confronted with a president who is actively destroying our federal government figuratively, functionally, and literally.
The following video is about Abraham Lincoln’s decision to sign the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863. Since most people are uninterested in history, I will not go into the details, but signing the proclamation was not as easy as it might seem. Several border states allowed enslavement, but wanted to stay in the Union. Lincoln could not afford to alienate these border states early in the war, so he had to wait for an opportune moment patiently. The following is a short video of his inner dialogue with his demons and angels.
The following is a link to the more extensive Truth Matters playlist:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL7bGIonl3S2eEqkZb6-xB4oB2zXrd1_k6