I wish I could say this was original with me but I must give credit where credit is due. I just happen to strongly agree with the writer, Max De Pree, businessman and author:

"The first responsibility of a leader is to define reality. The last is to say 'thank you'. In between the two the leader must become a servant and a debtor. That sums up the progress of an artful leader."

There is much wisdom here. We are listening to our potential leaders and not a one of them is really defining reality. They are afraid to define reality. Hillary is claiming to be an old hand at running things and she has zero experience, except for running Bubba. And she was having a hard time keeping tabs on Bubba. Obama is selling "Change" but he hasn't really explained the real changes he would attempt to institute. And "change" for change's sake is not necessarily a good thing. Drilling holes in the bottom of a boat at sea is a change but... And then we have McCain who is checking which ever way the wind is blowing and that's what he truly is and what he has always been. Yes, in this way he DOES look like his two predecessors, #s 41 and 43. Yawn.

Addiction? Addiction is being out of control. Better, addiction is allowing something outside of you control you. On the personal level this can be drugs, alcohol, gambling, sex, video games, thrills etc. It is almost an endless list but the common feature is that the person, to his or her detriment, is not in control of their life.

On the national level our dependence on foreign oil is to our nation's detriment. Our real wealth goes out and the commodity we buy goes up in smoke, literally; goes up into CO2, NO2, CO, O3 and a host of other noxious gases that do our habitat no good whatsoever. This is defining reality. Makes Ralph Nader sound more like the ideal candidate than any of the other ones. Kinda lends some credence to Ron Paul also. Too bad.

The leader must become a servant to the people who put him into the high office. He must also become the servant of those who did not vote for him or her. Anything less is not what the job demands. After defining reality he must deal with the real problems with the resources at hand, develop new resources when needed and enhance the lives of the citizens. An imperious leader, an autocrat seeks to CONTROL peoples' lives. A good leader serves the needs of his people.

A debtor because a good leader realizes it is both a privilege and an honor to hold this position. This isn't a place to drive a claim stake and demand the perks and trappings of the position, make money, feather his nest and prepare his "golden parachute". We don't need anyone like that. No business, no government, no club or any other organization needs a self aggrandizing egomaniac as it's leader. We must desire someone who feels they owe something of their talents, rights and privileges to the people whom he serves.

And when his time in office is done we don't need someone who trashes the facilities and frees criminals, pays off shady dealers and bribes and insults the people he had sworn to serve and insults whoever steps into the position next.