Sunday, October 30, 2011

Weighty Decisions


          This past week, I have come to realize that doing the politically smart thing is a lot easier than doing the ultimately and strategically smarter thing. I have recently learned more in depth about two specific instances in our nation’s history, one much more modern that the other. Both of these instances involved a decision that the president had to make, critical to out nation’s future. In one instance, the president did the politically smart thing. In another, the president made the strategically smart decision.
       One of the events I learned about was when President Abraham Lincoln made the decision to suspend the writ of habeas corpus. He did this during the civil war in order to prevent southern sympathizers from hurting the Union’s effort in the war. He knew that with a stronger Union, the chances of them winning the civil war would be a lot greater. On the other hand, this decision was not politically smart because it upset a lot of people, especially the southern sympathizers. At the time, Lincoln was on of the most hated presidents to date. However, because he made the strategically, and ultimately smart decision at the time, he enabled the Union to win the war, and therefore, is one of the most well respected presidents in American history.
       On the other hand, making the politically smart decision doesn’t always make someone a well-respected leader in the long run. I learned about George Bush’s legacy in terms of how he handled our nation’s debt and economy, and found that he was much more interested in pleasing the people than making our nation stronger and handling our nation’s debt the proper way. Instead of trying to pay off the debt, he decided to give numerous tax breaks to the people of our nation, and signed bill after bill regarding saving people money, especially in social security and health care. At the time, many people were incredibly excited about these decisions because it was saving them money. However, when it came to the time of current President Obama’s election, our nation was in a serious economic recession, and our nation’s debt was at its highest since World War II. Looking back now, George Bush’s presidency is not one most people look back on in a positive light.
       Based on the decisions of these two presidents, I have come to the conclusion that our nation puts a lot of pressure on our presidents for short term fixes, we don’t have as much concern for long term decisions and their effects. This puts a lot of pressure on our nation’s presidents to make the politically smart decisions, which tend to not work out as well in the long run, instead of making the smarter decision for our nation’s future as a whole. So now I wonder: Is the sign of a true leader someone that can set aside all of the pressure put on them for short term results, and make their decisions based entirely on the long term goals of his or her nation? Is that what makes a strong leader?

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