I do not see election times as a silly season, as is popularly referenced, far and wide. Seeing it as a silly season provides the opportunity and ammunition to say silly things to the point of extremes. Indeed, in this silly season as well, lots of good things are said and do come to light.And I am not referring to good humour as a silly thing; it is a good thing to mix humour with politicking, as good humour, for all intents and purposes, can disseminate effectively a candidate’s message. But unfortunately, amid the foolishness that occurs in many countries, silly things become predominantly the political culture of some election campaigns, where hordes of people come to campaigns expecting this foolishness. In fact, there are some people almost everywhere who look forward to hearing and seeing silly things during an election season.
And for some people, these silly things overly rehashed become their understanding of the politics of the society. Indeed, there is more to the politics of a society than a person’s digestion of a senseless sense of the country.Undoubtedly, seeing election times as a silly season degrades the true importance of an election. For this reason, sometimes a country gets the leadership it deserves.
In place of election times being seen as a silly season, why not have an election campaign period as a season to identify political leadership and statesmanship? Indeed, all election seasons should gravitate toward achieving statesmanship.
In paying tribute to Abraham Lincoln on the anniversary of his death on April 15, 1865, Bess Connolly Martell of Yale News (April 15, 2015) was in conversation with Yale University’s Alfred Cowles Professor of Government and Philosophy Steven B. Smith. Smith spoke about Lincoln who showed America how language and principles are important in politics, the stuff that makes for good political leadership and statesmanship. Smith felt that a great theme of politics is the idea of statesmanship, to find out who a statesman is and what it is that makes a statesman. Lincoln may be one of the few politicians to fit this bill of statesmanship.
And good statesmanship reinforces good leadership. Any election season provides numerous work sites to identify the makings of leadership. Smith’s writings show Lincoln as an exemplary leader through his obligations to constitutional government where his decisions were founded in the Constitution and the rule of law, his inspiring sense of moderation, and self-control.Thus, leaders who practise statesmanship would seek to ensure that decision making does not have constitutional excesses, naturally demonstrating the mark of an exemplary leader.
On the other hand, generations of political science students have been fed the view that politics has to do with the cynical manipulation of power. That understanding of politics may still very well be the case, but it does not totally consume politics. There is room to ease manipulation. For this reason, any election season attempting to build and identify statesmanship among politicians vying to take on the reins of government has to attend to the power of language in Smith’s terms, something that Lincoln used; not meaning fancy speechmaking, but reasoned argument and persuasion. Smith cited the Declaration of Independence to demonstrate Lincoln’s power of language where words and principles matter. Here is a part of Thomas Jefferson’s Declaration of Independence in Congress on July 4, 1776:
“…We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.–That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, –That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organising its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness…”
As Smith would have it, Lincoln, through applying the power of language and principles, gave canonical status to the Declaration of Independence and to its equality clause, thus “…that all men are created equal…”Oddly enough, despite this notion of equality, the US still leads the world with an abundance of gross inequality. And this stark equality deficit in the U.S. has a lot to do with the nature of political leadership and statesmanship.
Apparently, many in American political leadership have paid little attention to the power of language. According to Smith, Lincoln believed that words matter and politics really is an activity occurring mainly in words and through language.Thus, any election campaign period can do better than just being a silly season. And further, any election campaign period, far and wide, would do well to see its season for identifying and building political leadership and statesmanship, essential prerequisites for improving the quality of life of the poor and vulnerable. Governments exist to attend to the poor and vulnerable…

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By Dr. Prem Misir

Undoubtedly, seeing election times as a silly season degrades the true importance of an election. For this reason, sometimes a country gets the leadership it deserves.