This is President’s Month and it is kind of too bad that it is called that.  Someone, somewhere, somehow decided that February should be a celebration of all U.S. Presidents because Washington and Lincoln were both born in this month. To compare the other forty-four presidents to these two is like comparing Tommy Thevenow who batted 3,347 times and never hit a home run to Babe Ruth’s 8.399 at bats with 714 homeruns.

Washington and Lincoln were the Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig of all the presidents. Part of their greatness lies in the fact that they led the country in the most difficult of times. Another part of their greatness is based on the fact that they did not crave power; they did not want to “rule”: they wanted to serve.

They were also different in that they had a faith not in their own power but in the providence of God. Washington said, “I now make it my earnest prayer, that God would have you, and the state over which you preside, in his holy protection…”  During the Civil War President Lincoln was asked, “If God was on our side.” To which Lincoln replied, “My greatest concern is that we are on God’s side, for God is always right.” Washington and Lincoln not only had faith in God, but they were endowed by their Creator with humility.

Sadly, that is much of what is wrong with our nation at this present time. We have self-serving leaders whose aim is to have unbridled power and piles of money at the expense of those they rule over.  Today’s leaders do not really care what the general public wants, or what is best for the nation. Like Marie Antoinette, too many of our leaders look at the masses and say, “Let them eat cake.”

Unlike Washington and Lincoln who were humble men, today’s leaders are filled with arrogance. The mantra of today’s leaders is, “Do as I say, not as I do.” We wonder why we are divided? We wonder why our leaders serve only their own self-interests? We wonder why our leaders think they are above everyone else? It is because they have forgotten the words of Deuteronomy 28, “If you will only obey the Lord your God, by diligently observing all his commandments…the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth.”

Let us pray that our leaders return to faith in God and become humble servants once again.

Veritas - Curt