One year ago, Joe Biden became my president. You can roll your eyes all you want, but in the end he is your president, too.

Just like with every other president we have had during my lifetime, I am going to praise him when he succeeds, criticize him when he fails, and be continually prayerful that he makes our nation better for all of us. 

But I refuse to arbitrarily condemn the man because of the things I see wrong, just as I did with Trump, Obama, Bush, and every other president we’ve had in my lifetime. All of them messed up at times, and if you can’t see that or admit as much then you are refusing to open your eyes or be truthful.

I want Joe Biden to succeed not for Joe Biden or his party, but for the nation he was elected to serve. Anyone wishing otherwise is a fool, because his failure will ensure many good Americans will suffer as a result.

Is that what you really want? Some would say “yes, because I don’t like what he represents.” I would remind you that as president he represents you.

I see the stupidly deep partisanship displayed by far too many Americans and I go right back to what our founding fathers foresaw regarding political parties:

“There is nothing which I dread so much as a division of the republic into two great parties, each arranged under its own leader, and concerting measures in opposition to each other. This, in my humble apprehension, is to be dreaded as the greatest political evil under our Constitution.” — John Adams

“Party knows no impulse but spirit, no prize but victory.  It is blind to truth, and hardened against conviction. It seeks to justify error by perseverance, and denies to its own mind the operation of its own judgment. A man under the tyranny of party spirit is the greatest slave upon the earth, for none but himself can deprive him of the freedom of thought.” — Thomas Paine

“I never submitted the whole system of my opinions to the creed of any party of men whatever in religion, in philosophy, in politics, or in anything else where I was capable of thinking for myself. Such an addiction is the last degradation of a free and moral agent. If I could not go to heaven unless with a political party, I would decline to go.” — Thomas Jefferson

Let me now…warn you in the most solemn manner against the baneful effects of the spirit of party…it serves always to distract the public councils and enfeeble the public administration. It agitates the community with ill-founded jealousies and false alarms; foments occasionally riot and insurrection.  It opens the door to foreign influence and corruption…a fire not to be quenched, it demands a uniform vigilance to prevent its bursting into uncontrollable flame.” — George Washington

Read those again, and closely, and think about our nation today. How much more prophetic could men from 250 years ago be? 

With that said, today I’m afraid it just is what it is, and it is probably too late to undo what has been done. As much as I would love to see a more centered and balanced third party emerge, more than likely we will have to work with what we have got for at least the foreseeable future.

Elected officials are not above reproach — and to be sure, they are not celebrities. I would hope we’ve once and for all learned that lesson. When we treat them as ‘larger than life’ with zero accountability they begin to believe they are more than they actually are, and that ultimately leads to delusions of grandeur and egregious abuses. They must be held accountable by an enlightened and engaged society — not mobs of miscreants led by self-centered and destructive voices too often emanating from the most delusional yet loud among us. 

Call me a fool, but I still have incredible faith and hope for America. The framework for our home to be a wonderful place to live has never gone anywhere. Our founders gave us an amazing system that still holds the structure and foundation to address any of the ills we face as a society.

That incredible system has not changed — but what has changed is the nature and character of the people operating within it. 

That is our fault.

If you are anchoring all of your faith, security, and hopes in any mere human being you are inevitably going to be disappointed. All humans are flawed and equally fallible, always have been, always will be. I don’t say that to be political in any way. It is simply offered as a reminder and an acknowledgement of human nature. 

Always hope for the best, but ceaselessly pray for more. And, even more importantly, be the change you want to see in others. 

So I challenge each and every person reading this to ask themselves one simple question: “What am I doing to make things better?” Be brave enough to examine yourself objectively. An honest answer to that question may surprise if not disappoint you. 

If you feel things could be better, should be better, then get up off your La-Z-Boy and get in the game. Simply be brave enough to be the change you want to see — in the end, that is all you can do. 

If each of us does that individually, maybe, just maybe, we will see this nation change collectively.