Here are two small practical suggestions as to how you might proceed:
- Send John McCain to close down Gitmo, and let him give a fiery, historical speech as to why Americans don't torture.
- Appear on television from time to time with real cultural figures-people like Richard Rodriguez, Cornel West, Michael Lerner, Robert Bly, or Camille Paglia-and talk with them about ideas, not just political issues. Let the country see what an educated leader looks like, so that intellectual frauds will never again be taken seriously-setting a new standard for presidential discourse that will give the Sarah Palins of the world second thoughts before they presume to run for national office.
Robert Inchausti is the author of The Ignorant Perfection of Ordinary People, Subversive Orthodoxy, Thomas Merton's American Prophecy, and Spitwad Sutras: Classroom Teaching as Sublime Vocation.
