Leadership crisis: Who will bail us out?

Dear editor,

The United States of America is the greatest experiment in humankind. Our ancestors were the most advanced thinkers and social innovators in history with the exception of Christ.

They believed that people were supposed to be free to make choices in their lives as long as they were ready to assume the consequences of those actions. They believed that those choices had to be made in society, always looking out for the good of the community. Our founding fathers made decisions based on that principle, and they were always ready to assume the consequences for their decisions because they were made with the conviction that they were acting in the people’s best interest.

Washington enjoyed immense popularity when he began serving as president. However, he made a very unpopular decision during his second term in office. When England began efforts to re-colonize America, he realized that we were still recovering from our war for independence and that another war so close at hand would destroy our nation. Despite harsh criticism, he chose to enact a one-sided treaty with England. He retired from office feeling the burden of this very unpopular decision. Some speculate that the resulting stress may have shortened his life. However, because of his meritorious action, our nation grew in strength and unity. When faced with a similar attempt in 1812, we were prepared to go to war and preserve our liberty.

Lincoln is another example. Political advisers told him not to sign the “Emancipation Proclamation” as that would be political suicide. He signed anyway. The result: extreme unpopularity and possibly one of the reasons for his assassination. Yet, because of his decision, not only were the slaves freed, but also we remained a unified nation…one that was well prepared to take on future challenges as a world power. Indeed, the case can be made that a divided United States could not have persevered through World War II.

Today our nation is in need of the kind of leadership that our founding fathers displayed. We are facing the possibility of falling into the worse financial crisis in the history of mankind. I unfortunately have training and resources to understand what is at stake if we don’t come up with a plan to rescue the financial markets. We are in a global economy, where the web of financial relationships throughout the world will be deeply affected if our financial system is allowed to collapse. There are a number of moral dilemmas that we have to reconcile. I understand the frustration on Main Street with giving money to the greedy executives on Wall Street. The problem is that, without the cooperation of those people, no plan, good or bad, will work. The government is willing to throw a floatation device to the hundreds of companies affected by this crisis, but the government cannot make them take it. If those executives are as greedy as they have shown, they will bring every ship down. After all, they still keep their golden parachutes if they don’t save their companies.

I have been a victim of this crisis, but I also have been part of the problem. All of us who decided to “re-fi” and take cash out of our home, all of us who spend $1.30 for every $1.00 we earn. All of us who jumped on the bandwagon and bought an investment property ignoring the lessons of history… we, too, are part of the problem. Thomas Jefferson said to James Madison “No generation can contract debts greater than may be paid during the course of its own existence”, but regardless of how well we understood this, we were spending like there was no tomorrow.

The House of Representatives has listened to the people, but was that the correct decision? Are they making decisions thinking of you and me, or are they making decisions thinking of the upcoming election? It would be well to remember that the majority does not always make it right. Do you remember that the majority of the population favored slavery? The majority felt that women should not have the right to vote. Prior to 1960 the majority felt that virtually every aspect of life should be segregated according to race.

Ask yourself: What happens if my employer cannot get the short-term loan needed to make payroll? What will happen if the farmer cannot get the loan to buy seed?. What happens if food becomes scarce because the farmer could not farm? If you are willing to play Russian roulette with the future, call your Senator and ask him or her to vote for what we think is right. Otherwise, call and ask him or her to show some leadership and make the best possible decision based on the best possible information available. It is a decision that could affect the future of this, the Greatest Experiment in humankind.

Jake Romero

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