Electing Leaders with Values Important to You

Candidates are about to ask your permission to be your leader. How do you get to know someone well enough to know if they would make a good leader? I would propose that the way you find out if someone would make a good leader is not so much about their bio, as it is about their perspective – especially about how they believe problems and situations should be governed, and how they believe power should be welded. We’ve heard the scriptures, and clichés “be as wise as a serpent,” “act in good faith,” “absolute power corrupts absolutely,” and “people don’t care what you know, until they know that you care.” So, what codes, or ethics do these potential leaders live by?

If you are trying to get to know someone who may ask permission to govern, represent, or lead, you must realize that in essence, they are asking you to trust their perspective on what they believe is a wise act, and their perspective of what constitutes good faith, and what are the important things we all need to care about – other words, they want you to trust their values. So, what values do you want your leaders to hold? What values are you willing to defend, and what values are just nice to have, and not need to have values? Truthfulness? Individual liberty? Individual responsibility? Do you value property rights?

When you or anyone leads, you are just opening a door. You’re letting your children through it, your employees, your students, your friends. When you ask permission to govern, represent, or lead, you are asking them to trust your perspective; and lives are forever impacted by the doors you open and close for them, as they yield to your leadership.

I’ve heard it said that it’s hard to find good leaders – leaders with shared values, that you believe are worth defending, and speaking up for. We have to stop longing for days of history past, where people blushed, and the poison of moral decay was occasional. I see instead a condition begging for leadership; and, each one of us should be saying about the call to leadership, “If not now, when? If not me, who?”

I pray in upcoming elections that right will triumph, evil will be exposed, and the public will get informed, and gain confidence to speak up and defend the values that nourish their individual liberty, and state’s rights. If we are not leading, I pray each of us will at least support a good leader, speak up where we can, defend what’s right, and deny those with power, who degrade our Constitution, to have an easy time of it. Refer to sound values when you open and close the doors, and mitigated problems, or situations. Remember to help our leaders gain the needed perspective to govern and act on our shared values.

Leaders are lights that shine. They shine on what they choose to emphasize and highlight. They shine on the path they feel people should take – leaving alternative paths in the dark. They direct light to expose information to others, they shift the light, when their values steer them in another direction. That’s why picking the right leaders is so important.

We, who follow the God of the Bible, are commanded by scripture to not hide our light under a bushel. So, even if it seems to you that your are limited in scope and influence, (though often times we have a much larger influence than we know), approach your tasks in life with fortitude, tenacity, courage and persistence; and keep your perspective focused on the values that matter.