At the end of another media discussion about the failings of our Presidential candidates, one of the talking heads sighed and concluded, "The American public gets the kinds of candidates it deserves." Not the first time–nor most likely the last–hearing that.
Such statements are demeaning and off-putting. I'm not saying we deserve perfect candidates because we are a perfect people. People and nations are never perfect. But for the most part we are a decent people, trying our level best to make the good we are and have better, and to overcome what's wrong. We make mistakes, and sometimes worse than mistakes. But there is an impulse in the vast majority of us to create "a more perfect union." What we deserve is candidates who speak to our national aspirations, and who genuinely want to help us achieve them together.
When those who run for office are so compromised that we get lost in their faults and failures and no longer dare to entrust them with our hopes and dreams, we are getting far, far less than we deserve.
