My Point of View by Robin Brown and Joseph Brown

What do Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton, Ted Cruz, Bernie Sanders, Jeb Bush, Martin O’Malley, Lindsay Graham, Jim Webb and Lincoln Chaffee have in common? They are all presidential candidates that we have personally seen and met over the past year.

One of the advantages of living in southern Minnesota is our proximity to Iowa where we are only an hour or two away from meeting multiple presidential candidates.  There are 20 candidates from the two major political parties currently running for president.  They represent a wide range of ideas and have a wealth of political or business experience. We have a wide range of people and ideas to choose from. The only thing we know for sure is that we will have a new president on Jan. 20, 2017.

The United States has a population of 321,836,886. We have a net gain of one person every 12 seconds. Our national political leadership consists of one president, nine members of the Supreme Court and 535 members of Congress. It is too simple to blame our multiple problems and challenges on one president. Yet this is what Americans have done for decades.

The question for America is, “What type of president do we want to elect in November 2016?” What are the skills, attributes, personality, background and temperament we seek in our next president?

Last week we brought a group of students to Mason City to meet former Florida governor Jeb Bush. We asked the following question: “Tonight we brought a group of high school students that will be casting their first vote for president in November 2016. Would you please tell them what America would be like after eight years of a Jeb Bush presidency?” Governor Bush gave an articulate and thoughtful answer. As lifelong Democrats we are open to learning about all of the candidates regardless of political affiliation.

Our next election needs to be about results. What type of nation, state, region, county and neighborhood do we seek?   How are we going to achieve those results? What is the role of the 321,836,886 residents of America? What are we willing to contribute in effort to achieve the type of America we seek?

We claim we want safe roads and bridges. How are we going to accomplish this?

We claim we want affordable and assessable health care. How are we going to accomplish this?

We claim we want quality education. How are we going to accomplish this?

We claim we want a clean water and clean air. How are we going to accomplish this?

We claim we want to live in peace yet over 100,000 Americans have been killed by guns in the last three years. How are we going to change this?

Our nation needs to rebuild our aging infrastructure of roads, bridges, water treatment facilities and sewer systems. Our nation needs to get all able bodied citizens back to work. Our nation needs to focus on rebuilding our nation by working together instead of allowing political games to continue at the state and national level.

In 1968, Sen. Robert F. Kennedy stated, “Some men see things the way they are and say why? I dream things that never were and say why not?”  Too many presidential candidates are simply complaining about the way things are. We are hoping all presidential candidates start focusing on the future and be specific about how we are going to move this country to a higher level.

During the next year our hope is that Americans will look into the mirror and ask what they are willing to do to assist our next president to achieve the goals that are in the best interest of our nation’s future. What are we willing to do at the local, regional, state and national level to move this country forward? “E pluribus Unum” (Out of many one) is stamped on each of our coins.  President Lincoln wrote, “A house divided cannot stand.”  United we can accomplish great things.

 

Robin and Joseph Brown of Moscow Township are members of the Freeborn County DFL Party.