I Campaign not on Our Greatness, but on Our Need to Overcome Flaws

   We are a state that aspires. We don't sit easy being just another state. We are a state that is growing, flexing, vibrating and reaching for lofty heights.
   But, I like to think of us as more than that. I like to think of us as a state that reflects on its shortcomings, that searches them out with a fervor for overcoming them so it can thrust them behind.
  Greatness isn't greatness until it includes goodness. And, to become good, you must reflect not so much on how fabulous you are, but how fabulous you're not. You must spot your spots, so to speak, for you must spot your stains. You must see those stains before you can wipe them clean. No person repents without first acknowledging their faults. And, if that is true of the person, it is true of the society. Even so, this state will never become better if it does not first stop to reflect on what it does wrong so it can turn those mistakes around.
   Humility is not just for the person, but for the public body, as well. If it is a trait good for the one, it is a trait good for the many.
   So, I would ask, are we a state willing to be humble? Are we willing to stop and consider our faults?
  I am going to submit some ideas of what we are doing wrong. Rather than becoming angry with me, I would ask that you take my words and weigh them. Consider on them. Reflect.
  We are a state that is not doing well with its homeless. A few years ago, we threw them out of our city's downtown area. We have created new homeless shelters and perhaps new resource offices. But, I drive down the streets in the evening and still see the homeless abound. I read news stories of them not having places to defecate or urinate, so they do it on our streets.
   We are a state not doing well with police violence. We read of a police K9 dog being unleashed on a victim even though the victim was willing to submit to arrest. We read of police stopping a homeless man for riding across several lanes of traffic on a bicycle. And killing him.
   We are a state where a person buys paint to be thrown on the on the sidewalk of the DA's office -- a definite crime, but hardly worthy the punishment we attach, for we bring charges that could lock them away for life.
   I could go on.
   More greatness comes from confessing your weaknesses than does in bragging about your strengths. I would to have us become a great state, but we must first overcome our weaknesses. If we are too proud to see our faults, we will never see our horizons.
   I would campaign not on our greatness, but our need to overcome our flaws.