Lessons Learned From 41

With the passing of George H. W. Bush, fondly called 41, certain things come to mind.

Back when 41 was president, the world was gentler, more peaceful, and more considerate. Today some of the things that go on are downright shocking.

I’m trying to figure out, as a senior citizen myself, when exactly our country became so embroiled in the battle within the homeland.

Certainly we’ve always had political parties but they managed to work within their boundaries to get work done.

I’m not sure when a re-election campaign became more important than getting along and doing things for the people.

Now days it seems like whatever party dominates Congress they are the ones that will keep anything from getting done. It’s about arguing back-and-forth and satisfying the contributors to your reelection campaign, not to mention favors to grant that we don’t even know about. Payback if you will. Every president says that they are going to do something about campaign finance reform but, to date, no one has done a thing about it.

One of the things that they said about 41 was he was smart enough to know that he was going to have to work with both sides of the political aisle. He got more done in his four short years then most of our presidents have done in the last 20.

Why is that? Could it be that he wasn’t worried about his reelection? Could it be because he wasn’t worried about his popularity? Could it be he actually wanted to do the right thing?

Near death, he even invited the current president to his funeral, you know the one who has brought along a lot of hatred for both Democrats and Republicans.

Even in his death Mr. Bush was doing what he considered the right thing.

I think we all can learn a thing or two from number 41.