One of the key ingredients that determines if a leader can lead is trust. If people do not trust the leader they will not follow him or her. This is true in churches, in businesses and other organizations, and it is true of a nation. It is almost a certainty that Joe Biden will be our next president. However, whether that is the case or if President Trump somehow retains the office, America is in trouble.
This was a close election with nearly one-half of the votes going to each candidate. If Biden becomes president a large number of people will claim that many of his votes were fraudulent. If Trump wins his court cases and remains in office Biden's supporters will claim he stole the election. Either way, many Americans will resent whoever is in office. If Congress remains split with the Democrats in the House holding a slim majority and the Republicans in the Senate holding a slim majority our nation will once again be held captive by partisan bickering and posturing. By virtue of holding office the president will be able to enact some of his agenda through the use of executive orders, but that is not true leadership. These orders will be met with great resistance due to the lack of trust half of the nation feels towards whoever holds the office. Some are saying the Joe Biden received a mandate from the American public for the things he wants to do, but no such mandate exists. Neither did this election provide a mandate for the current president if he remains in office.
The approval rating for Congress tanked years ago and shows no signs of improving any time soon. Although a few new faces were elected to office in the recent election, for the most part we returned the same politicians we claim we don't trust back to office. I guess enough pot holes in our streets got repaired for them to stay in office. Much is made of the president's approval rating, but at even their lowest levels the past few presidents had ratings much higher than that of Congress.
What is lacking in our nation is statemanship. We have an abundance of politicians, but we do not have statesmen. When our nation was founded it was led by statesmen such as George Washington, John Jay, Alexander Hamilton, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Samuel Adams and many others. While these individuals held different views on various subjects, they worked together to create a constitution that has stood the test of time and been the envy of people around the world. Now we have politicians who want to rip up the constitution and replace it with their own private agenda. Is it any wonder they are not trusted and are unable to accomplish anything meaningful for the good of the nation? I find it interesting that our nation is so much larger now than when it was founded and yet we are unable to find leaders of the caliber of our founding fathers. We might want to explore why that is.
We have also learned that we cannot trust the news media. Not only do they determine what news to report, they determine how they can best spin it to fit their worldview. This is true whether one watches media with a conservative bias or a liberal one. I used to watch 3-4 hours of news every night. Now, I watch about a half-hour of local news and then go on to other things. I don't trust them so why should I listen to them? Until someone figures out how to restore trust in our elected leaders and our media we will see our nation continue its downward spiral.
I must point out the same is true of churches. One of the reasons so many churches struggle to remain healthy and to have an effective ministry is that its leadership is not trusted. There are many reasons for the lack of trust in churches. Former pastors may have provided poor leadership which has made the congregation leery of trusting another pastor. The church may have a lot of secrets it is trying to keep from being made public. A church is only as healthy as the secrets it keeps. Lay leaders in the church may have deep divisions among themselves, and any time there is factional fighting there will be a lack of trust and a breakdown of leadership. When any of these things occur, the church is in trouble.
We may still be a few weeks away from knowing who the next president will be, but this election is going to impact our nation for years to come. We simply have to do a better job of ensuring fair and honest elections in the future, and we need to begin now looking for qualified people to support for office who will have the good of the nation ahead of their own personal good or that of their political party.
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