Sarah Hoyt has an interesting article up at PJMedia. It’s rather right-focused, in that it’s advising those on the right to lower their expectations, but she makes a case for both sides having the same problem: We keep hoping for “the once and future king” to return in the nick of time and save us. We keep hoping to find that perfect candidate who will overcome all opposition and make the world the way it should be.
For the left it’s FDR. For the right it’s Reagan. Both are dead, and they’re not coming back. More importantly, no one can ever live up to the ideal we’ve created for our favorite saviors. Both FDR and Reagan faced significant opposition within their own parties. Neither were expected to be the icon of their respective side when they were elected. They proved to be the man of the hour afterward.
Most importantly, Hoyt makes the case that we can’t sit around waiting for our hero to come. We need to take the bull by the horns and solve the problems ourselves. Of course that’s not what we want to hear. We want to sit back and let someone else do all the work. We want to continue on our merry way, condemning those of a different mind rather than working with them.
Are we doomed as a nation? Or can we find out in time that we hold the power to be our own saviors?