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Nevertheless, I do not unequivocally rule out a political future. If I ever do decide to enter politics, it will not be because of high popularity ratings in the polls. I am fully aware that in taking stands on issues, I would quickly alienate one interest group or another and burn off much popularity. And I would certainly not run simply because I saw myself as the "Great Black Hope," providing a role model for African Americans or a symbol to whites of racism overcome. I would enter only because I had a vision for this country. I would enter because I believed I could do a better job than the other candidates of solving the nation's problems. I would not expect or desire to have anything handed to me; I would fight for the right to lead. And I would enter not to make a statement but to win. I understand the battlefield, and I know what winning takes.
Frankly, the present atmosphere does not make entering public service especially attractive. I find that civility is being driven from our political discourse. Attack ads and negative campaigns produce destructive, not constructive, debate. Democracy has always been noisy, but now, on television and radio talk shows, demagoguery and character dismemberment displace reasoned dialogue. As you dial through the current flood of talk shows, you will hear endless whining and not much constructive advice for our country. Any public figure espousing a controversial idea can expect to have not just the idea attacked, but his or her integrity. And Lord help anyone who strays from accepted ideas of political correctness. The slightest suggestion of offense toward any group, however innocently made, and even when made merely to illustrate a historical point, will be met with cries that the offender be fired or forced to undergo sensitivity training, or threats of legal action.
Ironically, for all the present sensitivity over correctness, we seem to have lost our sense of shame as a society. Nothing seems to embarrass us; nothing shocks us anymore. Spend time switching channels on daytime television, and you will find a parade of talk shows serving up dysfunctional people whose morally vacant behavior offers the worst possible models for others. None of this mass voyeurism is more offensive to me than the use of black "guests" by talk-show producers, reinforcing the most demeaning racial stereotypes. At least in the old days of Amos 'n' Andy, Amos was happily married and hardworking, and he and his wife together were raising sweet little Arabella, who said her prayers every night.
We say we are appalled by the rise of sexually transmitted disease, by the wave of teenage pregnancies, by violent crime. Yet we drench ourselves in depictions of explicit sex and crime on television, in movies and in pop music. Language that I heard--and used--only on all-male Army posts is now scripted into the mouths of women, even children.
A sense of shame is not a bad moral compass. I remember how easy it was for my mother to snap me back into line with a simple rebuke: "I'm ashamed of you. You embarrassed the family." I would have preferred a beating to those words.