Do We Elect The Leaders We Deserve?
Spirituality author and Benedictine Sister Joan Chittister wrote an excellent column in the Oct. 13 edition of National Catholic Reporter in which she reflects on the question of whether we elect to public office people who mirror ourselves. In other words, do we elect who we are?
Sister Joan’s column seemed particularly timely since this past week I watched with a heavy heart Giorgia Meloni installed as the new prime minister of my beloved Italy. Meloni got her political start in a neo-fascist organization. She’s formed her new administration with officials who have cozied up to Vladimir Putin in the past, denigrated immigrants and refugees, and spoken out against established civil liberties. God help Italy!
The upcoming U.S. election in November will be a similar test of our values. What kind of leaders do we want? What kind of nation do we want to be?
In her column, Sister Joan’s looks back on the “Prayer for Leadership” she composed in 2008. Back then the nation faced the historic and hopeful prospect that either the first woman or first person of color would be the nominee of a major political party. His or her opponent would be a war hero with an independent streak and reputation for working across the aisle.
With all that has happened within our political discourse since 2008, the words of Sister Joan’s prayer now seem quaint, if not naïve.
The prayer begins:
Give us, O God,
leaders whose hearts are large enough
to match the breadth of our own souls
and give us souls strong enough
to follow leaders of vision and wisdom.
It is “the breadth of our own souls,” Sister Joan suggests, that determines the leadership we get. Since then, our country elected a president who campaigned by denigrating others and won by exaggerating his abilities and bending the truth. In defeat, he helped provoke a violent attack on one of the great symbols of our democracy.
The prayer goes on to say:
Give us insight enough ourselves
to choose as leaders those who can tell
strength from power,
growth from greed,
leadership from dominance,
and real greatness from the trappings of grandiosity.
Now comes another test of our values. A number of candidates on the November ballot continue to refute the results of the 2020 election despite overwhelming evidence that the election was fair. They traffick in bogus conspiracy theories and promote partisanship rather than healing.
What kind of leaders do we want?
Back in the 6th century, St. Benedict of Nursia wrote about the qualities necessary for the abbot or prioress who leads a monastery. The primary concern of a true leader must be care for others. It’s not about his or her individual gain, but about the common good. What St. Benedict said still holds true for leaders of any kind.
There is a scene at the end of the 1940s classic film satire, The Great Dictator, in which a character played by Charlie Chaplin gives a speech that resonates eerily with where we find ourselves as a nation today:
“The way of life can be free and beautiful, but we have lost the way. Greed has poisoned men’s souls, has barricaded the world with hate … We have developed speed, but we have shut ourselves in. Machinery that gives us abundance has left us in want. Our knowledge has made us cynical. Our cleverness, hard and unkind. We think too much and feel too little. More than machinery, we need humanity. More than cleverness, we need kindness and gentleness. Without these qualities, life will be violent and all will be lost.”
When we cast our votes, are we thinking of our individual gain or about the common good?
What does our choice of candidates say about ourselves? Do we consider character and experience or will our vote promote partisanship over principle?
As Sister Joan points out, the candidates we choose are a reflection of ourselves. What do we wish to communicate about ourselves to our family, our community, the rest of our world?
The Great Dictator was especially right about one thing. What we desperately need is humanity, gentleness and kindness.
