Argentina is a long way from main street America, but recent news from the third most populous country in South America should send political shivers across much of the U.S. as we gird ourselves for the 2024 presidential election.
Recently, a far-right former television pundit with no governing experience sound familiar? pulled off a stunning election upset, defeating the center-left economy minister by a convincing margin.
Their names matter little to the message of this column, which is to continue to sound the alarm bells about the rise of right-wing fanaticism that threatens democratic institutions around the world.
In today's world, an air of optimism has been hard to find, given the tragic refugee crises that continue to unfold in Ukraine, the Middle East, Afghanistan, Venezuela, and South Sudan, virtually of which were caused by war-driven policies of heavy-handed dictators.
The cost of these humanitarian tragedies is beyond calculation, fed by years of military conflict and economic uncertainty that can only be addressed by a global determination to end such suffering. The global unrest comes at a time when conflict over culture, politics, land, religion, and race is flaring in countries around the world. The divisiveness has caused a political polarization that continues to stall any meaningful progress on addressing problems such as nuclear arms control, climate change, immigration reform, governmental corruption, economic inequality, and world hunger.
The likelihood of those problems being solved in the years ahead is dim in the current political climate unless we adopt a different approach, changing our way of thinking about some of the most complex issues of the day.
We can say with all certainty that there is no shortage of problems for the world to address. Regrettably, there has been a severe shortage of people with the character, qualifications, and commitment to solve those thorny issues. Look no further than the buffoons in the current Congress, a legislative body that has been hijacked by the likes of Jim Jordan, Matt Gaetz, Tommy Tuberville, Marjorie Taylor Greene, George Santos, Lauren Boebert, and others of their like.
The challenge we face in ridding Congress of such a despicable cast of characters is somehow to attract and support candidates on a non-partisan basis who possess the intelligence, character, and commitment to serve the public good. This, of course, will be a radical departure from the political norm, which has been plagued by greed and self-serving interests that have degraded and sullied a once proud profession.
Candidates to identify and support will embody a spirit of cooperation, as well as a desire to set aside their own interests and agendas for the much higher purpose of advancing the common goals for the betterment of society. They will be women and men of honesty and integrity who believe in civility and the need for a sea change in the way we operate politically. Their task will be to offer an unbiased examination of each problem and then to identify, prioritize, and select alternatives for a solution.
Only then can we begin to mount a counter-offensive for the common good, sending a loud and clear message to the forces of evil that imperil our way of life.
