If I Were Running for President

Last night’s presidential debate depressed me.

EmptyStageI slept poorly.

I awoke this morning upset and tearful.

Must we be treated like shareholders in a proxy battle for the management of the largest enterprise on the face of the earth?

Do none of us want our passions stirred for our own good?Is there no leader here who might motivate us with their thoughts on how we might collectively be a nation?

If I were running, I would say:

My fellow Americans,

We once had terrorists and their sympathizers in our midst, yet we did not hire a foreign force to invade Chicago to find the Chicago Seven.  We did not inspect every black looking for Black Panthers. And we were able to forgive Patty Hearst for taking up with the wrong crowd. We did pursue those terrorists and we made them ineffective and marginal. When aging 60’s radicals finally came out of hiding they were more the subjects of our pity than our scorn.

Japanese prisoners of war thanked us for saving their lives for they had been the products of an evil indoctrination that advocated suicide over a change of heart. Our goal is for middle aged Muslims to thank us one day for saving them from the evil indoctrination of their youth. Our goal should not be to hunt down and kill every last one of them. I doubt that they will ever thank us for bombing their villages as we looked for evil doers among them. We can deal with terrorists for we have done it before, and hopefully war never need be used to that end.

A nation should not take the decision to go to war lightly, and it is not the equivalent to hiring some professional police to maintain the peace. A nation at war requires complicity from all its citizens in the violation of the Golden Rule as it makes it a national mission to kill other people’s loved ones. If the day ever comes when we need go to war, I shall hold hands with you, kneel, and beg forgiveness for our own failure to find an alternative. In the meantime, I solicit help from every one of you in seeking a better path, and I shall never say that, just because I personally can not think of an alternative, then there are none.

Many of you wish to import American made drugs from Canada because our drug companies sell our drugs cheaper there. As chief executive I intend to vigorously enforce the unjust law that prohibits such importation, and as you leader I encourage all of you to violate that law as an act of civil disobedience. Then collectively we will present ourselves to those drug companies, millions strong, as their own customers who have been criminalized in support of their greed and we will stop them from perpetrating the biggest injustice of all by charging what the market can bear, rather than working for our best health. When we are victorious, I promise to pardon all of you of your crimes. My approach does not require the consent of Congress and the drug lobbyists will be powerless against us.

Our desire to litigate is out of hand, and we all must reassess our relationship with responsibility and risk. A life may be of incalculable value, yet accidents do happen. We do want our doctors to have insurance in case their negligence causes us harm, yet we want them to be able to afford that insurance. The solution to these problems may involve capping awards but it also involves us capping our own expectations and behaviors. If you wish to be reflective, I suggest that you decide if you personally have enough insurance to fairly compensate someone if you cause them harm. I also suggest that if you hate ambulance-chasing lawyers who advertise on TV then you tie up their toll free numbers with your opinions of them.

We do have a health care crisis in this country, and part of the problem is that we are becoming increasingly unhealthy because of the choices we are making. As your President, I intend to protect your investment in me by exercising every day. I ask C-SPAN to cover it live. If your President can find time to keep fit, so can you. Won’t you join me?

I am pro business, and it has been said that the business of America is business. But when it comes to your relationship with your government I do not want you to think of yourselves as shareholders of a corporation entitled to benefits without liability, and voters in an occasional proxy fight for a change in management. I want you to think of yourselves as partners in an endeavor sharing not only the benefits but also the effort and the responsibilities. I want you to wisely identify leaders in your midst.

God has blessed America and I hope we can act in a way to justify his continued blessing. Like many of you, I am not even sure I believe in God, but I say these words because they best express a feeling in my heart.

As I write these words, I cannot help but cry. As I listen to our presidential candidates, I cannot help but cry out.

Note: This was originally posted on October 9, 2004 under the title A Friend Writes on Baristanet.com.

What appears below are the comments as they appeared following the original piece.

 

Free 7-Day Voyage on the QM2 if you’ll help me collect stories from fellow passengers

OFFER SUPERCEDED

This offer was superseded by another offering a more reflective quieter one.
I have kept this post and moved it way down in date order merely as a matter of record.

Can you survive seven days with only slow-speed internet access?
Do you like hearing people’s stories?
Are you up for adventure?

If so, then perhaps you’d care to join me on crossing the Atlantic from NY to the UK on July 21-28, 2023. Alternatively, you might join me returning from the UK to NY on September 4-11, 2023.

We’ll share a cabin and I’ll cover the cost of your ticket, port charges, taxes, and tips. Since the crossing by ship is only one direction, I’ll also give you a stipend to cover your airfare for the trip in the other direction along with a hotel the night before sailing.*

In return, I ask you to help me collect stories from other passengers.

How to have an adventure

At age 13, I spent an entire summer with my grandparents listening to their stories of adventure from all over the world.

“How do I live a life of adventure,” I asked my grandparents at the end of our time together.

“It’s easy,” she replied. “When you have a choice, choose adventure. The problem is that most people have no idea what adventure is. They think it is the thing that promises the most excitement, like an amusement park. That’s wrong. Adventure is where you have no idea what is going to happen next.”

My son, Davis, and my grandmother, Ann.

“Your job,” she continued, “is to have stories for your grandchildren. And remember: the worse it gets, the better the story.”

With those few words, my grandmother gave my a goal for my life, a formula for success, and she inoculated me against despair. Whenever I wander down an unfamiliar road and something unexpected comes at me, I ask myself, “Now what?” And, when things go to hell, while my peers were freaking out, I say to myself, “This will make for an awesome story someday.”

Collecting stories on the QM2

The Queen Mary 2 is an ocean liner unlike any cruise ship in that it is built for long sea voyages. Among other things, it has a library with 10,000 books, it offers interesting lectures by experts, and it boasts a fully functioning planetarium.

I’ve crossed the Atlantic on the QM2 twice and I can tell you that the passengers on board are unlike most on normal cruises. All of them have interesting stories and some are even famous. During seven days at sea together, and without life’s normal distractions, it is very easy to meet people and collect their stories.

For example, I was working out in the gym when I spotted a guy covered in tattoos. I asked if any of his tats had stories and he said they all did. For about 15 minutes he explained each one. When he was done, he said he had to get ready for dinner.

A middle-aged man had been watching us and he approached me afterward.

“I am the drummer in the ship’s band,” the man said to me, “and that fellow is in my opinion the best drummer who has ever lived. I have been stalking him since he boarded trying trying up the courage to introduce myself. I can’t believe you just walked up to him and asked him about his tats.”

The ship’s drummer must have finally gotten up the courage because later they were spotted jamming together.

How you can help

If you join me, we will wear T Shirts inviting fellow cruisers to tell us stories of the kind you’d tell a child, a grandchild, or a student of life.

We’ll record these stories and we will publish the best either anonymously, or – if we are granted permission – we will identify the storyteller by name or with a photograph.

Some of the stories will go on my website HumansOnCruises.com. Others might go into a book I’m developing called Stories for Grandchildren. You will get credit for your participation.

The best stories answer a question

The best way to answer a question is with a story. Consider my story about asking my grandmother, “How can I live a life of adventure?”

Over the last decade I’ve been working on a tool to help create a robust philosophy of life so you can live by design rather than by default. It consists of a deck of playing cards with questions you ask yourself, and for any group of people to ask themselves.

You can find all the cards at: LifeWizardWay.com

On the ship I’ll give you a deck of the cards that you can use to help the people you meet think of stories.

Here are some examples of the cards.

The Aces introduce the four major areas of exploration: The Self, Other People, The Word, and Work. The Kings concern the virtues: Honesty, Accountability, Growth, and Integrity. The Jokers deal with Mortality and Purpose.

The other cards explore important topics, such as: Gratitude, Generosity, Fairness, Wealth, Motivation, Family, Friends, Community, Love, Judgment, Leadership, Followership, Personal Narrative, and so on.

Do you want to join me?

If you would like to join me on one of these crossings, please tell me about yourself and why you’d like to help.

← Back

Thank you for your response. ✨

Which sailing do you wish to be considered for?
What size T-Shirt do you prefer:

* SOME THOUGHTS: You’ll need to arrive at the departure city at least one day before sailing, i.e. July 20th in NYC and September 3rd in Southampton. I will cover the cost of a hotel room the night before the sailing. I will also give you $500 to cover the cost of return airfare. You will be responsible for booking your own airfare and you are welcome to extend the trip to include additional travel if you want. On the QM2, your fare will cover all the included food but not soda, alcoholic drinks, premium restaurants or anything else that incurs additional charges. You will need to give Cunard a credit card on check-in and I will reimburse you for tips that will be charged to your card but you will be responsible for any additional purchases you make on board. There is slow-speed internet access on the QM2 which is sufficient for checking email and light social media but not for streaming. You must be at least 21 to travel with us.