My first attempt at politics was running for President in 1988. In the process, I was able to write some things that were true. One was: If you elect one more president who doesn’t love you, you will no longer be living in a free country.

Thirty years later, I can tell you exactly why we have lost more of our freedoms year after year, no matter who was in office or what party was in control. First, we didn’t keep our eye on the ball. Second, we don’t even know what the “ball” is and finally, we almost never vote for anyone who does know what the “ball” is.

Unfortunately, we have been poorly educated and misinformed about how to be responsbile citizens. We don’t know where to focus our attention in order to become citizens living in a free and just society. And that’s why our elected and unelected officials don’t either, for it is no longer part of their culture — assuming it ever was.

I am not aware of any elected or unelected official who even knows what their job is. If they do, they are not honorable or courageous enough to do it. Americans will only vote for someone they think can win, not someone they know strives to keep their word. To honor their oaths of office they would have to understand what the following six words mean and attempt to live by them: truth, honor, dignity, compassion, courage and love.

But we won’t vote for such people. They would run for office if they thought we would vote for them and stand by them. But we won’t. If we never vote for what we believe in, or don’t know what to believe in, we will never live in a free and just society.

— Mark Goldman