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Well
this is a common question. How do you
change things? Do you work to change the
leadership at the national level or do you work to change
things in your community? Do you change
things at the top or at the bottom? Yes.
It is very
difficult to bring reform if people who don’t want reform
are standing in the way. And who doesn’t
want reform? Generally, it’s people
who already hold the reigns of power. And
yet right now, who is standing in the way of reform? We
all are. Most of us don’t know it. Most
of us just can’t see it.
One reason we
don’t see it is because people at the top are standing
in the way and they don’t want us to see it. The
problem is that we and the people at the top have the
same consciousness, generally speaking. We
elect people who are very much like ourselves.
And so the people at the top behave just as we
would behave if we were there. You might
not like me saying that, because it's not always easy to
look in the mirror. But once we do it's hard to deny the
truth.
To break
the cycle something has to change. One
thing that can bring about change is responsible leadership.
Leadership can come from anybody and, in a manner of
speaking, from everybody.
People who have power want to
hold onto it. Generally, they will not give it up
voluntarily… even if we are nice to them… unless by
being nice we mean we are willing to be subservient.
If we are willing to be subservient then they will
be nice and let us play in their game.
Electing people to office who have the same consciousness we
have is probably the main difficulty
with democracy. Who, after all, is smart
enough to vote for someone who has more integrity than they do
or at least not less?
Most
people want to be in positions of leadership because they
think that if they were only there, they could set things up so
that everyone would do things their way, and if everybody
would just do things their way, then everything would be just
great.
The
problem is, when they get there, things don't work out great.
Too often those who get the positions they seek
find they have been striving for an illusion. Being in high
office is not what they thought it would be. They
find that the only way they can persuade others to do things their way is to lie, hide the
truth, misinform, or cheat. After
all that’s what they did to get there. That’s
the only strategy they know that works. What
they don’t realize is that it doesn't work forever.
Everybody
makes mistakes. When people make mistakes
there are consequences. When people in high
places make mistakes there are big consequences. That’s
why if you don’t have an enlightened, well-educated,
well-informed electorate, things can go very wrong and
democratic institutions are bound to fail.
I have, in
my writings, done my best to reduce things to their lowest
common denominator so that anyone can understand if they want
to. In announcing my candidacy,
I am offering to serve in a leadership
capacity if people are really looking for leadership.
But let me tell you something about leadership.
Leaders can only be leaders when they are wanted and
needed.
If you
look carefully at the lives of Martin Luther King and Gandhi,
for example, history makes them out to be extraordinary
individuals. Well of course they were.
But what also made them extraordinary were the
circumstances in which they lived. What
propelled them to leadership was the fact that they were asked
to serve by people who knew enough to know that they needed
and wanted help. They were at the end of their rope.
Nothing else was working. They were ready
to follow someone who had a different vision. And
in the case of MLK and Gandhi, the people made very wise
choices. Not everyone wanted to lead.
It was a risky business.
When they
were asked to lead, these people were not famous, politically
powerful, or wealthy. But people wanted leadership.
After all, what did they have to lose?
In reality, it takes as much truth and courage to
follow as it does to lead. If you can’t
recognize the truth then you won’t know who or what to
follow. And if you try to overhaul the
status quo, you can be sure that you will have to face some
difficult circumstances. You will wither
under the pressure if you don’t have courage. In
other words, if you want change, you have to be the change.
And you can be. If you are reading this,
then change is not that big a leap for you.
But you have to want it and until you do, these are
just words on a page.
I don’t
know if I can make it any plainer than I already have.
If you want things to get better, you have to
get better. If you want justice, you have
to be prepared to be justice, choose justice, stand for
justice. And when you stand for justice you
will have to stand against a strong wind because that wind is
coming at you to blow you away.
Others
pander for your vote by saying what you want to hear. I’m simply telling you the truth. If
you want the truth, you need to be willing to live in the
truth. I’m sixty-three years old.
I’m not as young as I used to be and I’m beginning
to feel my age. As far as I am concerned,
time is of the essence. But let’s be
fair. You don’t really need me. You could
instead... be me. Or you can find someone
else to lead who will likely tell you the same thing I'm telling
you, but maybe say it better.
But no
matter who says it, when you are ready, you are not going to get to where you want
to go unless you are willing to stand up for what you want.
And if you want justice you will have to stand up for
it. If you choose less you will get less.
People who are willing to say anything to get elected
will do and say anything to stay elected. If
you compromise your integrity hoping that it will all work out
in the end, it will not work out in the end. Not
if in the end what you want is a government operating out of integrity.
So where
does reform come from… top or bottom? It
doesn’t come from top or bottom. It comes
from within. There is only honorable
citizenship. Whether you are President of
the United States or a citizen who works a simple job to earn
a small wage, you have a real opportunity to make a difference
in life. You make that difference by being
the best ‘you’ you can be… being honorable, telling the
truth.
I didn’t
ask you to follow me. I asked you to stand
with me, so that I might stand with you. If
you stand with me you are a leader every bit as much as I
am… but only if you stand firm. In fact,
I can’t be a leader alone. Someone
standing alone is just someone standing alone. He’s
not a leader until there's participation.
Vote for
what you believe in. Continue to learn with
an open mind so that you continually refine the quality of
what you do believe in. If you are honest
with yourself and others… if you have compassion for other
people… if you are willing to forgive… if you believe in
justice. Don’t move. Stand
where you are, for where you stand is on solid ground.
Stand there, not alone, but with me. And
the center of gravity of the universe will shift to be aligned
with us... If
you stand with me.
Mark A.
Goldman
Citizen and Candidate
for President of the United States
Mark A.
Goldman announced his
candidacy for President on March 5, 2007. This
commentary is in response to questions from readers at opednews.com
where the announcement was posted.
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