Wanted: Courageous leader to seek the presidency

I know it is late in the game for a courageous national political leader to emerge and challenge Donald J. Trump and Joe Biden for the presidency. However, a survey of states with registration deadlines to be on the Nov. 3, 2020, ballot reveals that except for about three minor electoral-vote states the registration deadline has not passed, with most states having qualification dates in July, August and in one case September, to be on the printed ballot.

Since January, the somewhat mercurial president has descended into increasing irrationality as the nation has experienced the perfect trilogy of pandemic, economic disruption and graphic police brutality, leading to peaceful demonstrations, and in some cases violence, looting, and loss of life on the streets of our nation. The complete disregard by protestors for social distancing, wearing of masks and sanitary practices does not add legitimacy to the causes they espouse.

The combination of an increasingly irrational president and a collective bureaucratic and congressional incompetence have resulted in a level of political instability and chaos that has not been seen in our country since the Civil War. Biden, the challenger is too weak to unite the country as he panders to the haters and extreme leftists in his own party.

The so-called government experts from the CDC and the president’s Covid-19 task force have demonstrated a collective weakness and an apparent fear of losing their privileged positions if they called out the president on his scatter-brained ideas regarding treatment for the disease.

They paraded in front of an all too receptive press and media with one theory or conclusion on how to treat the disease, only to reverse course the next day. Rarely if ever did you hear the words from any of them that “We simply do not know!” They were scientists not conducting themselves as scientists.

The complete shut down of the economy in order to flatten the curve while helpful in slowing the spread of the disease and not overwhelming the “health care system,” was a poor policy decision from the beginning. It did not take into consideration the negative impact it was going to have and in fact has had on our entire population. How many non-Covid-19 patients suffered or died for lack of medical treatment as a result of the shutdown?

Despite our “health care system” being the most expensive in the world, the pandemic revealed a chaotic collection of disconnected services, insufficient preparation by government and the entire medical industry from doctors to hospital administrators, to medical equipment suppliers and pharmaceutical companies, and last but not least, to health care insurers. The only exceptions were the frontline first responders, doctors, nurses and hospital support staff who showed us true heroism.

During these past difficult months when did you hear any encouraging or enlightening public statements from the American Medical Association or any other professional medical organization? However, throughout these difficult months the pharmaceutical industry continued to spend many millions of dollars on TV advertisements pedaling every exotic drug to the public.

The political hour is late and America needs “problem solver” rational leadership free of the captive and restrictive ideology of the left or the right. President Harry Truman famously said about the presidency, “The buck stops here.”

The American people are presented with two unworthy presidential candidates for president, nominated by the two political parties, which have lost the respect of a majority of the American people. Both parties have evacuated the political center, where the solutions to America’s problems can be found, in a race to the political extremes where only the demagogues win.

The middle of the road is wide open. There is a majority of Americans who embrace equality, reject racial and identity politics. These American voters consist of reluctant Republicans, discontented Democrats and thoughtful independents. They are looking for someone who understands, as Martin Luther King so eloquently noted, “I have a dream that my children will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character,” and can lead us all to the place where a “more perfect union” resides.

This is the political year when We America can make that happen. Will that courageous leader please come forward?

If you wish to comment or respond you can reach me at melpearlman322@gmail.com. Please do so in a rational, thoughtful, respectful and civil manner.

Mel Pearlman holds B.S. & M.S. degrees in physics as well as a J.D. degree and initially came to Florida in 1966 to work on the Gemini and Apollo space programs. He has practiced law in Central Florida since 1972. He has served as president of the Jewish Federation of Greater Orlando; was a charter board member, first vice president and pro-bono legal counsel of the Holocaust Memorial Resource and Education Center of Central Florida, as well as holding many other community leadership positions.