From Bill Matthews.
THE triumph of Barack Obama in the USA, where more than 60% of the electorate voted, makes our own elections seem pale.
In America the challenge was obvious, and a convincing candidate rose to meet it. The people responded to the prospect of leadership. To look at our own candidates and their manifestos is to raise awkward questions.
• Which one has the vision of a healthy, wholesome, cleaner world and can lead us towards it?
• Which one actually sees the problems of our world and can read the signs of the times?
• Which one has the authority and credibility to tackle the domestic issues over reckless spending and the lack of accountability, coupled with the wider vision of rebuilding the whole of our social structure to give it meaning and purpose?
Most agendas seem little more than collusion with the populist outrage that our pockets are being picked by a government which has nothing better to do. Well, it is not my aim to rubbish politicians. They do that well enough themselves. But there is a strong sense that we get the candidates we deserve.
It is time to rethink our whole way of life in a world which has lost the plot. The very foundations of what seemed to be a secure developing world are being shaken. The moral fibre which once held together social relationships is being unravelled. Our god, Mammon, is being exposed, and not for the first time, as false.
An election is a time to bring us to our senses, to recognise a moral meltdown in a world which is becoming spiritually bankrupt.
Do we not have the vision to see beyond the confusion and emptiness of so much of today’s political options?
Can we not catch something of the hope which has inspired the American election and seek real human growth? Individualism without responsibility and care for others is a recipe for frustration and, indeed, destruction. 2 Malvern,
Ruelle ès Ruaux,
St Brelade.
Obama: Can we catch the vision?
From Bill Matthews.
THE triumph of Barack Obama in the USA, where more than 60% of the electorate voted, makes our own elections seem pale.
In America the challenge was obvious, and a convincing candidate rose to meet it. The people responded to the prospect of leadership. To look at our own candidates and their manifestos is to raise awkward questions.
• Which one has the vision of a healthy, wholesome, cleaner world and can lead us towards it?
• Which one actually sees the problems of our world and can read the signs of the times?
• Which one has the authority and credibility to tackle the domestic issues over reckless spending and the lack of accountability, coupled with the wider vision of rebuilding the whole of our social structure to give it meaning and purpose?
Most agendas seem little more than collusion with the populist outrage that our pockets are being picked by a government which has nothing better to do. Well, it is not my aim to rubbish politicians. They do that well enough themselves. But there is a strong sense that we get the candidates we deserve.
It is time to rethink our whole way of life in a world which has lost the plot. The very foundations of what seemed to be a secure developing world are being shaken. The moral fibre which once held together social relationships is being unravelled. Our god, Mammon, is being exposed, and not for the first time, as false.
An election is a time to bring us to our senses, to recognise a moral meltdown in a world which is becoming spiritually bankrupt.
Do we not have the vision to see beyond the confusion and emptiness of so much of today’s political options?
Can we not catch something of the hope which has inspired the American election and seek real human growth? Individualism without responsibility and care for others is a recipe for frustration and, indeed, destruction.
2 Malvern,
Ruelle ès Ruaux,
St Brelade.
Article posted on 14th November, 2008 - 3.00pm