"At Large, A Journal of Our Times"

Spare us from the Academy Award winning soliloquies of trained Thespians whose method acting abilities captivate the listening audience. We loose ourselves in their polished deliveries and fail utterly to listen critically to the intent of their spiels. They are imposing characters, prodigals of their profession, and loose on a world stage. They are merely playing a part, reading words written by nameless underlings whose jobs are to create catch phrases and singular insinuations which will resonate with the uninformed American populace. "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!" was delivered on a global stage by Ronald Reagan, and the acceptance of this line was universal during a carefully planned photo op. The truth was that the "Iron Curtain" had already crumbled, and the "wall" was disintegrating long before this line was delivered due to the economic failure of the Russian government.

We do not need an actor in the White House. We need an intelligent scholar who has proven qualifications and a history of achievement. One who can articulate his positions with a free flow of discourse, without the use of nameless backroom staffers writing catchy words and partisan phrases. You see what happens when an unintelligent person like our current president George W. Bush, not trained in oratory, attempts to establish direction without the force of academic accomplishment on a world stage. He is reading everyone else’s writing and is being coached by others for his presentation. Nothing on the script is from his own preparation. He mumbles and stumbles, and during Q & A, he cannot justify his utterances. He sounds foolish. He mangles his extemporaneousness, and his words are fodder for punch lines by comedians. He is not convincing, and this hurts America. The problem here is the ignorance of the man, and the disingenuousness of his message. Were there a real direction and a real understanding of contemporary issues, delivered with a real passion, one could be forgiven for his public oratory foibles, as the happenstance with former President Gerald Ford. In spite of the foibles of President Bill Clinton, no one could argue with the reach of his intelligence. They used their own words, wrote their own speeches, and led through the force of their own intelligence.

We need a leader who can state his case before the cameras on the first take, without a director yelling, "Cut!" and without silent minions cringing when their boss errs in the reading of their prepared script. We need a leader whose comprehension of world issues is exact, whose knowledge of world governance is acute, and whose dissemination of information is accurate and on point. We need a leader whose presence alone engenders respect, and whose understanding of domestic issues is rooted in fairness for all Americans. Failure in this costs us time, money, and American lives through misguided directions, misappropriations of resources, mistakes in the assessments of the resoluteness of other nations, and impetuous decision making, ensconced with an all encompassing self-righteousness. Have we not learned to do unto others as we would have them to do unto us?

I hope we will elect a leader who will be a real person and not a character actor in a sitcom. America cannot afford to witness another four or eight years of a failed rerun. May there not be another syndicated comedy series emanating from our White House. We cannot endure anymore negative ratings. We must reposition ourselves in real time on the world stage as a free and open democracy whose principles are rooted in tolerance and fairness for all peoples. We must elect a scholarly representative who can freely and convincingly speak to these issues.