Why We Shouldn’t Wait for a Leader to Rise

The luxury of waiting is costly and counterproductive

Elections Are like Football

I have a big problem with our elections in the U.S., but it’s not the typical problems you might be thinking of (e.g. gerrymandering, limited options, political action committees). My problem is that we don’t have them often enough. To further confuse you, I don’t actually believe we need more of them to solve the problem. That’s because the problem is psychological in nature. I’m guessing that you probably have a blank look on your face right about now, so let me attempt to explain…

What happens prior to the lead up of any high-profile election?

You have the mainstream media and other outlets talking non-stop about the various candidates and their policy positions. The candidates themselves travel around their respective regions where they hope to govern and try to convince as many people as they can why they’re the right guy or gal for the job. You’ll most likely hear from your peers, family, and anyone else who’s not afraid to voice their opinions on who they like best (and will probably try to sway your own opinions). You might even see some mass demonstrations of people trying to push the candidates and the rest of the public toward their own policy beliefs. Of course, most people seem to just enjoy the political drama that tends to unfold.

Election day finally comes and you feel proud to have exercised your right to vote after making your own informed decisions on the candidates (or perhaps you could care less and chose strictly based on party affiliation or name recognition). You may even feel some tinge of hope that things will be much better if your chosen candidates are elected.

And then it’s over. You go back to your normal life. You get up in the morning for your nine-to-five job. You come home to cook dinner and maybe catch up on today’s current events or maybe watch that latest Netflix show everyone’s been raving about. Rinse and repeat until the next election cycle.

Anyone else see the problem with all that?

We tend to treat elections similar to how we treat the Super Bowl. A majority of our attention and effort is directed into that short time frame in the lead up to the election rather than more evenly spread out over time. We do tons of preparation for the big event, but once it’s over, we all go back home to our routine lives. Plenty is discussed up to the day of the event, but little is said after. Perhaps these short bouts of intense focus and work are simply what humans are best at doing rather than consistent focus over longer time periods. Regardless, we’re doing ourselves a huge disservice in the process.

It is the “off-season” of elections where people tend to be focused on other things, and all the rapid progress made during the election cycle slows down to a snail’s pace, or worse, halts completely. It’s similar to how those who work in sales work fervently to hit their metrics or quotas before the end of the quarter, and then take a long vacation once they do. Now, that’s not to say that elections don’t require a lot of effort and work, but we would make far more progress toward addressing the many issues our country faces if we took a more…consistent approach.

What if, what we actually need is not great leaders, but just great people willing to stand up for what they believe in and to take on the powers that be.

Playing the Waiting Game is a Dangerous Game to Play

So, why can’t we just wait for a leader to rise?

That is the fallacy we commonly find ourselves in. We always feel like we have all the time in the world to do this or that. Unfortunately, when it comes to some of the issues we face as a nation, we don’t have the luxury of waiting. For example, the climate crisis demands that we act NOW and not in 2020 or another four years after that for the next presidential election hoping that a leader will come along to pave the way toward a more sustainable future. The same goes for wealth inequality, healthcare costs, and other major issues we face. The longer we wait, the worse these problems will become.

Furthermore, we already have plenty of great leaders out there tackling these issues and offering solutions. With regards to the climate crisis, Bernie Sanders, Bill McKibben, Michael Mann, Greta Thunberg, Bill Nye, Naomi Klein, Leonardo DiCaprio, Al Gore, Annie Leonard, and so many others have stepped forward to bring more public awareness to the issue and drive positive change. Yet, the U.S. and the rest of the world still seem to be dragging their feet. That’s because these voices, although great they may be, are still drowned out by the sheer influence of the powers that be and those who favor the status quo. Therefore, what is required in order to overcome these established and vested powers is a power of equal and opposite force. However, they have the power and influence of money. So, we must have something that trumps money. The only reasonable answer is “people power”, i.e., they can outnumber us in terms of wealth, but we can outnumber them in terms of people fighting for a common cause.

So, if we already have great leaders, then need we wait for more? What if, what we actually need is not great leaders, but just great people willing to stand up for what they believe in and to take on the powers that be. As Bernie Sanders said often during his 2016 presidential campaign, “When people stand together, and are prepared to fight back, there’s nothing we can’t accomplish.” Indeed, although our country seems to be more divisive these days (as portrayed by the media), we also tend to agree on what needs to be done more than ever before. If we all generally agree on the same things, then why wait for someone to tell us what we already know?

Additionally, what if we spend all our time waiting for a leader that never actually comes? We can all be hopeful for 2020 that our ideal candidate will be elected, but what if they’re not? Let’s face it, elections are a crapshoot, and no one has any certainty of the outcomes. Imagine all the time, money, and energy that could have been invested not on the election, but instead on things that will actually help address the issues we face, the plans we can create now to ensure we meet certain milestones in the future, and the strong communities and networks we can build to drive progress on larger scales.

Stop Waiting, Start Engaging

The answers are laid out before us, and all we have to do is act upon them. In case you’re still wondering, here they are:

• We must break the bad habit of engaging in politics and activism only when it is convenient or urgent, and instead take a more measured and consistent approach.
• We must stop treating politics like a spectacle, and instead as an important method for promoting good policies.
• We must carve out some time in our busy lives to engage on political issues, and make it part of our routines.
• We must educate ourselves on the issues and listen to all sides of the debate.
• We must overcome the uncomfortable feelings when we talk with others about these issues.
• We must become more involved in our communities to drive action on the local level that will eventually sprout to the top.
• We must hold our current elected officials accountable at all times, not just during an election.
• When a great leader comes along, we must support them to help drive change, but even when they’re gone, we must take up their mantle to ensure progress continues.

By doing all of this, we will inevitably foster progress that is both significant and sustainable, and be more productive as a society. We will stop waiting for great leaders to save us, and instead become them.