FALSE PROPHETS

“If I am fortunate enough to get your vote and you elect me to be the next President of the United States, I will……”

How often have we heard this? And what unrealistic claims have followed this mother of all campaign promises:

·         Forever eradicate racial discrimination in this country

·         Make these illegal immigrants go back to where they came from and stand in line for a chance to enter this country legally

·         Lower your taxes by closing all the loopholes and making sure that everyone pays their fair share of taxes

·         Make China and Russia respect us again for what we are, the leading military and economic force in the world

·         Eliminate the IRS, the department of Education, the Department of Commerce

·         Put an end to the influx of illegal drugs into this country

·         Put up a wall between us and Mexico and I make Mexico pay for it

·         Deal with radical Islam like we have dealt with the Nazi’s, defeat them

·         Grow the economy enough to allow us to lower taxes, begin to pay off our debt and eliminate unemployment for anyone willing and able to work

The Romans already had an expression for this abuse of peoples’ wish to hear what they want to believe: “Mundus vult decipi, decipiatur ergo” which translates into “the world wants to be deceived, so let’s deceive her”.

Presidential candidates should really be judged by the credibility and the feasibility of the promises they make while campaigning and they should be disqualified if they make promises, like the ones cited above, that are either completely unrealistic or outside of the presidential authority. Unfortunately our voting public is immensely gullible and loath to ask the follow-up question “and how are you going to deliver on your promise”?

Don’t we get evidence time and again that Presidents, on their own, can only do so much? Particularly, but not only, when the opposition controls the Congress. That is no afterthought. The framers of the Constitution were as afraid of unbridled power of the President as they were of the tyranny of the unsophisticated and uneducated masses (which is why voting rights were so restricted in the early republic).

Furthermore, in their zeal to get elected, presidential candidates are willing to promise much more than they ever intend to deliver. This is particularly true for today’s Republican candidates for the presidency who will have to appeal to many fringe constituencies just to come out on top in the primary process.

Don’t we also see that it takes two to tango? That the mere fact that the U.S. President may want to project American power and dominance does in no way guarantee that other world leaders and other forces like ISIS or Al Qaeda will step in line. Probably more the contrary, when the U.S. says “A”, countries like China, Russia and Iran are more likely to say “B”. The USA represents four and a half percent of the world population and the question needs to be asked why it should have the aspiration to dominate world affairs.

The phenomenon of false prophets is not new and it is not uniquely American. Through the ages of democracy and all over the world candidates for elective office have been willing to say just about anything that helped them getting elected. Once in office, they have been able to invoke unforeseen external circumstances and an uncooperative opposition to excuse them from not delivering on their promises. 

Or they have just accepted that after their day in the sun they would fade into the background, but be richer and better connected for having made it to the top. But when candidates for the White House make these outrageous and irresponsible representations in this day and age when the whole world is listening in, it takes a different dimension. These are the people that believe that they, better than anyone else, can lead the free world to a better, safer and more predictable future. And the voters will propel one of them into the highest office in the nation and the world. Based on false and undeliverable promises?

Let the voting public be forewarned that electing someone for what he/she promises to deliver, like ‘real change’, is a recipe for later disappointment and a disservice to a nation in need of firm leadership. For the highest office in the nation voters would be well advised to go by a proven and unblemished record, an appealing vision, high credibility, unassailable character, positive attitude and prime age (if a candidate with such profile can be found.)