I was watching mission to mars on the Discovery Channel last night when one of the astronauts quoted your President Kennedy.

“We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win, and the others, too. “

That portion of his speech got me thinking. Not about going to the moon or going to Mars, but thinking about the current political situation in the U.S. and how you guys are in a bit of an economic and sociological pickle (I’m not going to list them…I’m sure you can figure them out). I googled and re-read the speech a couple of times over and am still flabbergasted by this man’s (President John F. Kennedy) vision, insight, articulation and obvious intelligence. This was a man who was able to inspire an entire generation (of not just Americans, but Canadians, Europeans, and Asians) to go out into the world and explore its boundaries, and to try and go beyond them for the betterment of mankind in the name of science and exploration, all with a residual effect that continues to echo to this day. This man, who pretty much single handedly prevented complete global annihilation, was able to rally engineers, technician, laborers to work together and accomplish something, that only ten years before, seemed not only impossible but implausible; all the while getting the public to support his mission.

However, I’m not going to start bashing your current President by trying to compare him to the (arguably) greatest American president in recent history. Instead, I take this opportunity to remind you of how a leader should act and present himself as an example and inspiration to his people by being honest (of course that is relative), compassionate, attentive, strong enough to stand by convictions, but intelligent enough to recognize (and acknowledge) his and others mistakes.

In the next year you will be bombarded with political messages telling you about how the one guy wasted your money on this, and how the other guy wants to waste all your money on that, and he wants to let all those killers out of jail. I’m not going to tell you whose right or wrong because honestly I don’t know…Dems, Repps, they all have an agenda, be it personal or professional. But as Americans you have a responsibility to yourselves and the rest of the world, let’s face it, they don’t call you a Superpower because you can shoot laser beams out of your ass. You are a nation of wealth and power and as a Canadian I fully acknowledge that as fact. But in recent years there seems to have been an abuse of both the things in which you have in abundance and now you are left in limbo where a great nation is divided and the effects are being felt worldwide. Loss of life and cost of war not withstanding, your people need inspiration, a cause, a rallying point to unite your nation and in repercussion the rest of the world… (motherfucking Star Trek and shit). In order to return to greatness a great leader must emerge and be chosen by the people…I just don’t know who that person is.

What I do know is that they should have a lot more in common with Kennedy than with Bush.

Peace out bitches!

Flame on freshness lovers! Flame on!